Art Davis
Art Davis ( born December 5, 1934 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, † July 29, 2007 in Long Beach, California ) was an American bassist. He has played with Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Bob Dylan, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Abbey Lincoln.
Life and work
At age five he began to learn the piano and then switched to the tuba. In high school he discovered the bass itself. He studied at the Juilliard School and received his doctorate at Hunter College in New York.
Davis went first with Max Roach (1958 /59) and then with Dizzy Gillespie (1959 /60) on tour. In the following years he worked with folk singers such as Peter, Paul and Mary and John Denver, as well as with Lena Horne and Judy Garland. He then worked in orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and various radio orchestras, but especially in the studios. After him was a vacancy as an orchestral bassist exploitable (he was of the opinion that his black skin color was the problem), he sued the New York Philharmonic. This process has cost him most of the contacts in the music business. The trial of the orchestra he lost. In the meantime, he studied clinical psychology doctorate and practiced in Southern California.
He wrote a textbook on a technology developed by him 4- finger technique for playing the bass and taught at several American colleges and universities. Mid-eighties, he again began to appear in public. He took on some recordings. He also founded the Foundation B.A.S.S. (Better Advantages for Students and Society ), collected the money to socially disadvantaged students to be awarded scholarships.
John Coltrane, on whose albums Africa / Brass ( 1961) and Ascension Art Davis (1965 ) was involved, regarded him as his favorite bassist. Jazz critic Nat Hentoff evaluated Davis as " an amazing musician " and " beyond the categories ". Art Davis was a professor at Orange Coast College.
On July 29, 2007, he died of a heart attack at his home in California after he had just taken yet with Roberto Magris.
Discography (selection)
- Reemergence (1980 ) with Hilton Ruiz and Greg Bandy
- Fife ( Soul Note, 1985) with Pharoah Sanders, John Hicks, and Idris Muhammad
- A Time Remembered (1995 ) with Herbie Hancock, Marvin Smitty Smith, Ravi Coltrane
- Puttin ' On The Ritz (2002) with Jan Jordan