Davis was born in
Richmond, Virginia and raised in
East Orange, New Jersey. His mother played gospel music and he had uncles who were pianists. As a teenager, he performed with
Babs Gonzales in
Newark. In the 1950s, Davis recorded with
Melba Liston and
Max Roach. He played with Roach,
Charlie Parker, and
Dizzy Gillespie. In 1958, he played with trumpeter
Donald Byrd at
Le Chat Qui Pêche in Paris and shortly after realized his dream of becoming pianist and composer-arranger for
Art Blakey's
Jazz Messengers. In 1959, he briefly appeared on stage as one of the heroin-addicted musicians in a production of
The Connection. Davis married songwriter
Mayme Watts, who was performing as a vocalist with the Walter Davis Jr. Trio. Although he retired from music in the 1960s to work as a tailor, painter, and designer, he returned to his music career later that decade, and in the 1970s he performed with
Sonny Rollins and again with the Jazz Messengers. He recorded with many other prominent jazz musicians, including
Kenny Clarke,
Sonny Criss,
Jackie McLean,
Pierre Michelot and
Archie Shepp. Davis was known as an interpreter of the music of
Bud Powell, but also recorded an album capturing the compositional and piano style of
Thelonious Monk. Several of his compositions served as titles for albums by Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Combining traditional harmonies with
modal patterns and featuring numerous rhythmic shifts along with internal melodic motifs within operatic,
aria-like sweeping melodies, Davis's compositions included "Scorpio Rising", "Backgammon", "Uranus", "Gypsy Folk Tales", "Jodi", and "Ronnie Is a Dynamite Lady". Davis had an occasional role as the piano player on the CBS television comedy ''
Frank's Place. He also contributed to the soundtrack of the Clint Eastwood film Bird'' (1988). ==Death==