Originally from Chicago, Davis began his musical career as a singer
with his brothers, singing bass in his family vocal trio. After college,
Davis performed in dance bands. The connections he made led him to
pianist Don Shirley. In 1954 he and Shirley moved to New York City
and performed together until 1956, when Davis began playing with the
Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. In 1957, he became part of Sarah Vaughan's
rhythm section, touring and recording with her until 1960. During the
1960s, Davis was in demand in a variety of musical circles. He worked
with many of the cutting edge small jazz groups of the time, including
those led by Eric Dolphy, Jaki Byard, Booker Ervin, Andrew Hill, Elvin
Jones and Cal Tjader. From 1966–1972, he was a member of the The
Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra (now known as the Vanguard Jazz
Orchestra). He has also played with Don Sebesky, Oliver Nelson,
Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, and Ahmad Jamal.
After living in New York City for 23 years, he moved to
Wisconsin in 1977, where he became a professor at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison, teaching bass,
jazz history, and improvisation. -from Wikipedia
Drums – Freddie Waits
Piano – Joe Bonner
Tenor Saxophone – Clifford Jordan
Trumpet – Marvin Peterson
Richard Davis
1972
