Richard Davis

[Guy Berger]

I do remember something in the old Saturday Review about Richard Davis & Roy Eldridge listening to Trane at either the Vanguard or the Five Spot & Roy said (paraphrasing from memory), "you know, Richard, I don't know if I can get to where Trane is going" and Richard replying (again, paraphrasing from memory), "well, Roy, I don't think that Trane's waiting for you". And then Roy bristled, or some such.

In Ashley Kahn's A Love Supreme book, this is mentioned within the context of a Charles Lloyd comment on Coltrane's 60s music:

"Once I was standing against the wall at Birdland with Andrew Hill, Richard Davis, and Roy Eldridge. Trane had been playing a solo for about 30 minutes or so. The music was so intensely beautiful, lifting me up to the highest -- words can't go there. Roy leans over to Richard and says, "I know Trane is playing, but I just can't get with him." Richard says, "Well, you know, Roy, Trane ain't waitin'." "

[JSngry]

Might well be the same anecdote. I've not seen Saturday Review for 30-40 years now...

[Hot Ptah]

Regarding the question of whether Richard Davis played with Coltrane, he told our jazz history class that he felt a special loss when Coltrane passed away because he was going to become a full time member of Coltrane's group in the fall of 1967.

[.:.impossible]

I love listening to bassists, especially solo.

How about another Chicago bassist: Fred Hopkins? Oh, Ronnie Boykins!

Not to turn this thread into a list of bassists, but I think Henry Grimes is also in this league of bassists who played their part extremely well in many settings.

Yes to Richard Davis, and yes to double bass solos

How do you guys feel about Ronnie Boykins in the Chicago scheme of things?

[mikeweil]

Regarding the question of whether Richard Davis played with Coltrane, he told our jazz history class that he felt a special loss when Coltrane passed away because he was going to become a full time member of Coltrane's group in the fall of 1967.

oh, geez .... that would have been somethin' ..... if you take into account that Jaki Byard almost joined Trane ... Byard and Davis with Trane would have left quite a few behind.

Edited April 22, 2013 by mikeweil

[paul secor]

I can't imagine Jaki Byard with Trane, but perhaps that's a problem with my imagination.

[Hot Ptah]

Regarding the question of whether Richard Davis played with Coltrane, he told our jazz history class that he felt a special loss when Coltrane passed away because he was going to become a full time member of Coltrane's group in the fall of 1967.

oh, geez .... that would have been somethin' ..... if you take into account that Jaki Byard almost joined Trane ... Byard and Davis with Trane would have left quite a few behind.

Richard told our jazz history class that he had previously been asked to join the Miles Davis Quintet, but that his wife at the time did not want him to travel. So he turned it down and concentrated on studio work in New York City instead. Then when John Coltrane asked him, he decided not to turn down another great opportunity.

There is a recording of Richard with the Miles Davis Quintet in Portland, around 1966--he subbed for Ron Carter. I have seen it on possibly sketchy labels. I don't know if it has ever had an official release anywhere.

[Hot Ptah]

Richard Davis also shines in this unexpected context:

Richard told our jazz history class that he learned to play bass in the swing era, and that Jimmy Blanton was his favorite. He bought Jimmy Blanton's bass and owned it for many years. I am not sure if he has donated it to a school or museum by now. He talked about doing so at one time.

He told our jazz history class that he played with the Mercer Ellington-led version of the Ellington Orchestra for about a year in the mid-1970s, just because he loves Ellington's music so much. That is where he met a very young Ricky Ford, and was impressed with him. Ricky played and recorded with Richard into the 2000s.

Richard told our class that bebop came along after he had learned bass, and thought at the time, now he would have to learn bass all over again.

One of his notable gigs in the 1940s was playing duets in a Calumet City, Illinois, strip club with Sun Ra. He said that Sun Ra would read thick philosophy books as he played piano for the strippers--the book was open on the piano and Sun Ra would read as he played.

Richard said that he played in Sun Ra's big band for a year in the 1950s, when Sun Ra was starting out as a leader. I do not think Richard recorded with Sun Ra until the All Stars tour of the 1980s (Sun Ra, Lester Bowie, Don Cherry, Archie Shepp, Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, Richard Davis, Philly Joe Jones, Clifford Jarvis).

In December, 1981, Sun Ra and his Arkestra came to Merlin's, a music club in Madison, Wisconsin. I got the assignment to write about it for the University of Wisconsin student newspaper, the Daily Cardinal. I talked to Sun Ra's manager to get background information for the article. Sun Ra would not consent to an interview with me, that was out of the question. Richard Davis asked me to give Sun Ra his home phone number. I told his manager about it. The next day, Richard was excited and said that Sun Ra had called him and that they had talked for some time.

Richard also told our class about his years as a member of Sarah Vaughan's backing trio. Roy Haynes was her drummer in those years. Richard was the most emotional about Eric Dolphy. He was a close friend and Richard thought very highly of him.

Edited April 22, 2013 by Hot Ptah

[uli]

For a while, Bass Be Chicago!

Last night i thought about this thread when I heard Bankhead (on cello) Josh Abrams & Tatsu Aoki on basses with Isaiah Spencer Ernest Dawkins and a french trumpet player whose name I did not catch.

Bob Cranshaw deserves some love too.

[Justin V]

I looked at his discography, and it appears that his most recent appearance as a sideman is with a late edition of The Great Jazz Trio. Has he stopped taking sideman gigs? It just reminds me of the liner notes for Robert Hurst's One for Namesake, where Elvin Jones says, "If Bob wasn't hip, he wouldn't know to call on me." Although it'd be intimidating to approach Richard Davis, it would make sense for someone like Jason Moran, Vijay Iyer or Orrin Evans to record with him.

[sgcim]

I seem to remember a story about Stravinsky singling RD out for praise when he conducted an orchestra with RD in it.

Some musicians have complained about RD overplaying on a lot of sessions, but I thought he sounded fine on his first NY gig, the Kenny Burrell LP, "Men At Work" with Roy Haynes, live at the VV.

RD was notably the only cat who didn't get into the race thing in "Notes & Tones".

I also dug his "Epistrohy/Now's the Time" LP with Hannibal and Clifford Jordan.

My sister had his "Philosophy of the Spiritual" LP with Sam Brown, and that morbid sound of the title cut featuring his arco bass used to make me think the world was coming to an end...

[colinmce]

Stravinsky was a big fan of his, yes.

[Late]

Doing some research on Gary Karr, I came upon this — Karr & Richard Davis:
 

 

And, different context altogether, Richard Davis with Ted Dunbar:
 

 

[BeBop]

I've always especially liked his duo work.  I liked Body and Soul with Archie Sheep so much I bought Cauldron with L.D. Levy.  Glad to hear more.

[soulpope]

Another showcase for capabilities of Richard Davis ....

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Is Davis still active at 86? I don't think I've ever seen him in the 27 years I've been going to gigs in Boston.

[Steve Reynolds]

He played last year @ William Paterson College with Andrew Cyrille, Angelica Sanchez and a wonderful violinist who's name I have forgotten as I saw the quartet the previous year at a festival in Montclair State University also in NJ. Richard was frail and sat as he played but his playing was exquisite and 90% with the bow.

 

[Hot Ptah]

Richard had been a tenured professor of music at the University of Wisconsin from 1977 until his retirement last year. He taught several classes every semester and that cut down on his time for recording and performance to some extent. He will turn 87 in April, 2017.