Richard Davis

Andrew Hill's Point of Departure and Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, of which critic Greil Marcus wrote (in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll), "Richard Davis provided the greatest bass ever heard on a rock album".

He has been a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison since 1977. Originally from Chicago, he first became known in that city before establishing himself in New York City for twenty-three years. He teaches bass, jazz history, and improvisation.

A long-time educator, Davis' former students include William Parker, Karl E. H. Seigfried, Sandor Ostlund, Hans Sturm, Jeffry Eckels, David Ephross, and many others.

Richard Davis, began his musical career as a singer with his brothers. Davis sang bass in his family vocal trio. In addition to his earlier years of singing, Richard Davis began studying the double bass in high school with his music theory and band director, Captain Walter Dyett. After high school, Davis studied the double bass with Rudolf Fahsbender of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra while attending Vandercook College. Read Less