Walter Davis, Jr.

Walter Davis Jr. stood out as a strikingly original pianist whose work spanned bebop and hard bop, though he once stepped away from performing to operate a tailor shop before reentering the scene. Respected as a soloist, leader, and sideman, he built a substantial catalog without ever achieving widespread recognition, even among jazz insiders. As a teenager he appeared with Babs Gonzales’ Three Bips & a Bop, then relocated from Richmond to New York in the early 1950s. There he worked alongside Max Roach and Charlie Parker, cutting a 1953 date with Roach, and later joined Dizzy Gillespie’s band in 1956 for tours across the Middle East and South America. In 1958 he performed in Paris with Donald Byrd, followed by a 1959 engagement with Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers. After another period away from music spent running his tailoring business, Davis reemerged in the 1960s to produce sessions and craft arrangements for a New Jersey ensemble. He traveled to India for musical study in 1969 and collaborated with Sonny Rollins in the early 1970s. A second term with the Jazz Messengers came in 1975, after which he formed his own New York-based group. His recordings appeared on Blue Note, Mapleshade, Debut, Denon, Red, and assorted French imprints. Session work linked him to Roach, Rollins, Sonny Criss, Jackie McLean, Pierre Michelot, Archie Shepp, Kenny Clarke, Byrd, and Blakey, among others, with several of his own dates later issued on CD.