Walter Davis Jr.

Walter Davis, Jr. (September 2, 1932 in Richmond, Virginia; – June 2, 1990 in New York City) was an American hard bop pianist.

Born in Richmond, Virginia, Davis performed as a teenager with Babs Gonzales and his group Three Bips and a Bop. In the 1950s, Davis recorded with Max Roach and played with Roach, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1958 he played a highly successful, extended engagement in Paris with trumpeter Donald Byrd at Le Chat Qui Peche and shortly after realized his dream of becoming pianist and composer-arranger for Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.