The Well-Tempered Ear

UW-Madison master bassist Richard Davis dies at 93

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By Jacob Stockinger

First I saw him — particularly standing out because he was one of the very few Black professors on campus at that time.

Then I heard about him.

He was a prize-winning, critically acclaimed jazz bassist who was nationally and internationally famous and freelanced even while at the university.

But the first time I actually heard Richard Davis (below and in the YouTube video of a Fox News feature at the bottom) perform live at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he taught for decades after his arrival in 1977, he was playing in a small chamber orchestra that accompanied a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach.

It was a memorable and outstanding performance perfectly suited to the Baroque style of the music, far from the top-notch jazz combos, rock bands, symphony orchestras, conductors and individual star singers that he usually played with. 

I don’t think I ever saw or heard met a more complete musician, and I doubt I ever will. It is hard to think of a skill Davis hadn’t mastered — whether it was composing, improvising, performing, recording or teaching. 

Davis died last Wednesday — ironically on the first day of classes of the fall semester at the UW-Madison— after spending two years in hospice care. He was 93.

He received a major obituary in The New York Times. Here is a link (you might have to register):

And here is a link to his extended biography, with a discography and an impressive list of awards and honors, in Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Davis_(bassist)

Did you ever hear Davis live or on a recording? In what kind of music?

Did you ever perform or study with him?

What was he like as a person and an artist?

The Ear wants to hear.