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Astral Weeks, the legendary album by Van Morrison seemed like just another day in the studio for the late jazz bassist Richard Davis. “I was having fun, just trying to put my stamp on it,” he told Bass Player back in 2015.
Producer Lewis Merenstein was charged with hiring a studio band for Morrison's debut recording on the Warner Bros. label. Being a jazz fan, he asked Davis to find the musicians.
“He asked me if I could get a group together to record with this guy coming over from Ireland,” said Davis. “I got drummer Connie Kay, who I always called the ‘Security Officer’ because he gave me that secure feeling whenever he played. Jay Berliner was on guitar and Warren Smith was on vibes.
“We went to the studio and started jamming on the lead sheets. Then the singer showed up. Van Morrison didn't speak to us, and we didn't speak to him. We just started playing through the charts. That's how the album came together.”
At the time, Davis was supplementing his creative projects with a rotation of studio work, playing jingles and backing up pop, rock, and folk acts. “I was in the studios every day, doing jingles, recording sessions, broadcasts – you name it.”
He was also playing every Monday night at the fabled Village Vanguard with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra.
In his biography, The View From the Back of the Band, Mel Lewis recalls the styles that were covered by the studio musicians of the day. “Richard and I spent days together. We’d start with a Dixieland jingle, go on to a Jimmy Dean country date, and wind up playing something far out – from one extreme to the other.”
And so Davis brought his jazz sensibility to the Van Morrison date, turning some of the singer's simple folk tunes into freewheeling jazz jams.
The Way Young Lovers Do is a prime example. It begins with a four-bar guitar-and-vibes intro in a waltz-like 6/4 meter. When Davis enters, he avoids a typical waltz bassline, and immediately develops a 4-against-3 rhythm.
Notice how Davis plays several rhythmic variations in bars 5-8. He also adds some nice harmonic twists. Check the line at 00:25 and hear how he uses the high F to create harmonic variation and imply an E79 chord.
At 01:16, he uses the A harmonic minor scale over the E7 to add tension and return to the Am at 01:19. Under the trombone solo at 01:44, Davis begins his line conservatively, but then he can't resist reaching into the stratosphere at 01:52 to bring the solo section to its thrilling climax.
Morrison enters again at 02:08, and Davis and the band coast out through the tune's last chorus.
Astral Weeks failed to make the charts when it was first released in 1968. Now, 58 years later, the tracks have achieved mythical status among folk-rock fans.
Davis’ advice for young bass players was wise: “I suggest they learn everything – what they're comfortable playing and what they’re not. Learn everything to the note. Everything becomes part of your musical makeup.”
Davis died on September 6, 2023, at the age of 93.
