Anthony Davisprojects

As a leader/composer:

Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis - piano and composition


Anthony Davis & Episteme
Cynthia Aaronson-Davis - soprano vocal
Mark Feldman - violin
J.D. Parran - clarinet, contra-alto clarinet and flute
Anthony Davis - piano and compositions
Mark Dresser - double bass
Kjelle Nordesen - drums, percussion, vibraphone and marimba


Anthony Davis - Thulani Davis "X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X"

A Lyric Opera premiered in a semi-staged production in Philadelphia in 1985 and received its first fully staged production at the New York City Opera in 1986.

Anthony Davis - Thulani Davis "Amistad"

A Lyric Opera of Chicago's 1997 world-premiere.
Amistad is an opera that was ten years in the making. Thulani and I first discussed the idea of making an opera on the Amistad Rebellion in 1986. We were drawn to the drama of the story, a successful uprising of captives on a slave ship, and the implications of the Amistad incident in an understanding of ourselves and the American experience. Through the Amistad, we could revisit the story of the Middle Passage, the contradictions implicit in the ethos of America, and also explore the emergence of the African-American as a cultural entity. Amistad is my most ambitious work to date and gave me the opportunity to expand upon what I learned from my previous operas as well as the chance to explore new musical areas.

Anthony Davis - Yusef Komunyakaa "Wakonda's Dream"

A Lyric Opera premiered March 7, 2007 at Omaha, Nebraska's Orpheum.
Wakonda's Dream is about a contemporary Native American family, impacted by the historical events that occurred in Nebraska in 1879 that changed the legal status of American Indians to that of "human beings under the law" for the first time in U.S. history.

As a co-leader:

Nicole Mitchell & Anthony Davis
Nicole Mitchell - piccolo, alto flute, bass flute and compositions
Anthony Davis - piano and compositions

"Davis began his own, "Of Blues & Dreams" with rhapsodic flourishes - he made the Steinway grand sing like an angel - and, when Mitchell joined him, her velvety-toned melodic gestures soared, swooped, growled and cooed. Davis composes like an improviser and improvises like a composer. His signature piece had plenty of room to branch off into different moods and textures giving Mitchell wide multiples from which to expand. Dynamics were explored in the fullest sense - and when it got quiet - Mitchell responded with breathy overtones and tiny whistle-stops. She even sang into the flute shooting skeins of moaning, yelping multiphonics." Robert Bush, San Diego Reader

Anthony Davis - Mark Dresser
Anthony Davis - piano and composition
Mark Dresser - double bass and composition

The Duo of Dresser Davis performs a wide range of music from the lyrical to the political.
The music is a commentary on today from the political and dramatic, with works like "The Central Park Five" to the whimsical, "I Can Smell You Listening" and "Heil Twitler".
Informed by four decades of collaboration, these two master improvisers engage the full spectrum of Jazz and Improvised music.

Anthony Davis - Jason Robinson
Jason Robinson - tenor sax, alto sax, soprano sax and flute
Anthony Davis - piano