Walter Davis Jr. was an American hard bop pianist. An often remarkable and inventive bebop and hard bop pianist, Walter Davis Jr. once left the music world to be a tailor, but returned. A solid soloist, bandleader, and accompanist, he amassed a good body of work while never becoming a high-profile name even within the jazz community. Davis played with Babs Gonzales’ Three Bips & a Bop as a teen, then moved from Richmond to New York in the early ’50s. He played with Max Roach and Charlie Parker, recording with Roach in 1953. He joined Dizzy Gillespie’s band in 1956, and toured the Middle East and South America. He also played in Paris with Donald Byrd in 1958 and with Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers in 1959. After retiring from music for a while to run his tailor shop, Davis returned in the ’60s, producing records and writing arrangements for a local New Jersey group. He studied music in India in 1969, and played with Sonny Rollins in the early ’70s. Davis had another stint with the Jazz Messengers in 1975, then led his own group in New York. Davis recorded for Blue Note, Mapleshade, Debut, Denon, and Red and for various French labels. He did sessions with Roach, Rollins, Sonny Criss, Jackie McLean, Pierre Michelot, Archie Shepp, Kenny Clarke, Byrd, and Blakey, among others.
Biography
Born in Richmond, Virginia, Davis performed as a teenager with Babs Gonzales. In the 1950s, Davis recorded with Melba Liston, Max Roach and 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. After retiring from music in the 1960s to work as a tailor, painter, and designer, he returned in the 1970s to perform 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. Davis was known as an interpreter of the music of Bud Powell, 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 comedyFrank's Place. He also contributed to the soundtrack of the Clint Eastwood film Bird. Davis died in New York City on June 2, 1990, from complications of liver and kidney disease.
