Richard Davis was a jazz bassist and session musician who recorded with Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Dolphy, and many others.
- Died: September 6, 2023 (Who else died on September 6?)
- Details of death: Died in Madison, Wisconsin, at the age of 93.
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Richard Davis’s legacy
Davis learned bass in his hometown of Chicago, playing with the Youth Orchestra of Greater Chicago. Early in his career, he played classical and jazz, including touring and recording with Sarah Vaughan (1924–1990). He continued playing jazz throughout the 1950s and ‘60s, performing with such greats as Miles Davis (1926–1991), Frank Sinatra (1915–1998), and Ahmad Jamal (1930–2023).
In the 1970s, Davis began working as a session musician for rock recordings, playing on many of the great classic albums of the era. Those albums included Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks,” Paul Simon’s “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon,” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.” and “Born to Run.” The many other artists with whom Davis recorded included Dizzy Gillespie (1917–1993), Janis Ian, Bonnie Raitt, Carly Simon, and Louis Armstrong (1901–1971). He also recorded several albums as a bandleader.
Davis began teaching music and musical history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1977, continuing until his 2016 retirement. He created the Richard Davis Foundation for Young Bassists, providing training, instruments, and scholarships to help develop the skills of aspiring musicians. Davis’ family has suggested donations to the foundation in his memory.
Davis on his youth in Chicago
“You heard jazz and blues music all over the place. [It was] in all the local bars and the alleys. You could walk around the corner – I lived on 47th street – and hear Memphis Minnie, Memphis Slim, Muddy Waters, B.B. King. You heard all kinds of stuff in Chicago – guys playing guitar in the alley somewhere, or on somebody’s back porch. [They would have] a ring on their finger made out of the neck of a whiskey bottle to get that twangy sound.” —from a 2019 interview for JazzTimes
Tributes to Richard Davis
Full obituary: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
