ANTHONY DAVIS
Genres: Third Stream, Avant-Garde Jazz, Jazz Related Soundtracks, Post Bop • United States

Anthony Davis, better known as Tony Davis (born February 20, 1951 in Paterson, New Jersey), is an American composer, jazz pianist, and student of gamelan music. Davis is best known for his opera entitled X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X, which was premiered by the New York City Opera in 1986. He taught at Yale University, and has played with Anthony Braxton and Leo Smith. In 1981, he formed an octet called Episteme. He also wrote the incidental music for the Broadway version of Tony Kushner's Angels in America. He incorporates several styles including jazz, rhythm 'n' blues, gospel, non-Western, African, European classical, Indonesian, and experimental music.  Davis is with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and has received acclaim as a free-jazz pianist, a co-leader or sideman with various ensembles. Such ensembles include those that featured Smith as bandleader from 1974 to 1977. Davis is professor of read more...