The Hope College Jazz Chamber Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble will perform with guest artist and bassist Richard Davis on Monday, Nov. 17, at 8 p.m. at the Knickerbocker Theatre.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
Davis spent 23 years in New York City and established himself as one of the world's premier bass players. "Downbeat International Critics Poll" named him the Best Bassist from 1967 to 1974.
He has recorded a dozen albums as leader and more than 2,000 recordings as a sideman. Performance and recording credits include Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Miles Davis, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Band, Dexter Gordon, Ahmad Jamal and a host of other notables.
Davis is equally at home in the world of euro classical music, having played under the batons of Georger Szell, Leopold Stokowski, Igor Stravinsky, Pierre Boulez, Gunther Schuller, and Leonard Bernstein.
His great versatility as a bassist keeps him in constant demand for worldwide concert appearances. For nearly 50 years he has drawn audiences in Japan, Europe, Russia, South America, Puerto Rico, Cuba, The West Indies, Hong Kong, Israel and United States.
His most recent CD release, "The Bassists: Homage to Diversity," was recorded in Japan in 2000.
In 1993, he founded the Richard Davis Foundation for Young Bassists, Inc., which annually brings in 17 masterful bass instructors and performers to teach young bassists.
Currently Davis is a professor of Bass (European Classical and Jazz), Jazz History and Combo Improvisation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Jazz Chamber Ensemble will be playing "Gingerbread Boy" by Jimmy Heath, "Milestones" by Miles Davis, "Blue Bossa" by Kenny Dorham and "Minus G," a piece written by Hope College senior Richard Van Voorst.
The Jazz Ensemble's performance will include "Tuning Up" by Toshiko Akyoshi and "Three and One" by Thad Jones.
The Knickerbocker Theatre is located in downtown Holland at 86 E. 8th St.