Walter Davis Jr.

Davis was born in Richmond, Virginia and raised in East Orange, New Jersey. His mother played gospel music and he had uncles who were pianists. As a teenager, he performed with Babs Gonzales in Newark.^[1] In the 1950s, Davis recorded with Melba Liston and Max Roach. He played with Roach, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1958, he played with trumpeter Donald Byrd at Le Chat Qui Pêche in Paris and shortly after realized his dream of becoming pianist and composer-arranger for Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Davis married songwriter Mayme Watts, who was performing as a vocalist with the Walter Davis Jr. Trio.^[2]

Although he retired from music in the 1960s to work as a tailor, painter, and designer, he returned to his music career later that decade, and in the 1970s he performed with Sonny Rollins and again with the Jazz Messengers. He recorded with many other prominent jazz musicians, including Kenny Clarke, Sonny Criss, Jackie McLean, Pierre Michelot and Archie Shepp.^[3]

Davis was known as an interpreter of the music of Bud Powell,^[4] but also recorded an album capturing the compositional and piano style of Thelonious Monk. Several of his compositions served as titles for albums by Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Combining traditional harmonies with modal patterns and featuring numerous rhythmic shifts along with internal melodic motifs within operatic, aria-like sweeping melodies, Davis's compositions included "Scorpio Rising", "Backgammon", "Uranus", "Gypsy Folk Tales", "Jodi", and "Ronnie Is a Dynamite Lady".

Davis had an occasional role as the piano player on the CBS television comedy Frank's Place. He also contributed to the soundtrack of the Clint Eastwood film Bird (1988).

Davis died in New York City on June 2, 1990, aged 57, from complications of liver and kidney disease.^[5]

With Art Blakey

• Africaine (Blue Note, 1959)
• Paris Jam Session (Fontana, 1961)
• Roots & Herbs (Blue Note, 1961)
• Gypsy Folk Tales (Roulette, 1977)

With Nick Brignola

• Burn Brigade (Bee Hive, 1979)

With Donald Byrd

• Byrd in Hand (Blue Note, 1959)

With Sonny Criss

• This is Criss! (Prestige, 1966)
• Portrait of Sonny Criss (Prestige, 1967)

With Dameronia

• To Tadd with Love (Uptown, 1982)
• Look Stop Listen (Uptown, 1983)
• Live at the Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt Paris (Soul Note, 1989 [1994])

With Walt Dickerson

• Walt Dickerson Plays Unity (Audio Fidelity, 1964)

With Teddy Edwards

• Nothin' But the Truth! (Prestige, 1966)

With Dizzy Gillespie

• World Statesman (Norgran, 1956)
• Dizzy in Greece (Verve, 1957)

With Slide Hampton

• Explosion! The Sound of Slide Hampton (Atlantic, 1962)

With Etta Jones

• Ms. Jones to You (Muse, 1976)

With Philly Joe Jones

• Philly Joe's Beat (Atlantic, 1960)

With Jackie McLean

• New Soil (Blue Note, 1959)
• Let Freedom Ring (Blue Note, 1962)

With Hank Mobley

• Newark 1953 (Uptown, 1953 [2012])

With Max Roach

• The Max Roach Quartet featuring Hank Mobley (Debut, 1954)

With Julian Priester

• Spiritsville (Jazzland, 1960)

With Sonny Rollins

• Horn Culture (Milestone, 1973)

With Charlie Rouse

• Soul Mates (Uptown, 1988 [1993]) featuring Sahib Shihab

With Art Taylor

• Taylor's Tenors (Prestige, 1959)

• Walter Davis Jr. at AllMusic
• Walter Davis Jr. discography at Discogs
• Walter Davis Jr. at IMDb
• An Interview with Walter Davis, Jr., by Bob Rosenbaum, January 1982