Ron Davis

Ron Davis is a Canadian jazz pianist.

Early life Davis is the youngest son of Alex Davis and Alice Davis (née Ladowsky). His maternal grandfather was Józef Ładowski, a Polish restaurateur who owned a restaurant in the 1920s and early 1930s in Warsaw. The 1930s Polish song, Bal u Starego Joska, cites this restaurant and refers to Ładowski (Gruby Josek).

Davis's parents survived The Holocaust as inmates of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (father) and the Skarżysko-Kamienna labour camp (mother) before settling in Toronto, Canada, in 1948.

Davis was enrolled at the Royal Conservatory of Music to study theory and piano. He studied with teacher Darwyn Aitken, a student of both Oscar Peterson and David Saperton. At thirteen, Davis made his public debut playing the Maple Leaf Rag at a convention held by the Toronto Ragtime Society. At sixteen, Davis made his professional debut when he performed at the grand opening of a Toronto restaurant.

He continued to perform as a jazz pianist as a teen and young adult in clubs as he made his way through university and law school.

Education and early career Davis studied French at the University of Toronto. He wanted to continue on to graduate studies but his parents were adamant that he become a lawyer. He was able to make a compromise with them by studying law at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law where they had just launched a French common law program. and completed his articles with Philip M. Epstein, doing civil litigation and solicitor negligence defence work, sharing space with criminal lawyer Edward Greenspan. In 1984 he was called to the Ontario bar. and won him the 1993 University of Toronto French Department Doctoral Thesis Prize.

Professional music

In 1997, He created Symphronica, Davis has recorded albums in various size ensembles (from duos to symphonies) and styles, such as chamber jazz, straight-ahead, and electric.

And in 2020, Davis' twelfth studio album, Symphronica Upfront, was nominated for a Juno Award for Instrumental Album of the Year.

Davis derives his style from the swing and bop eras. He cites pianists Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, and Thelonious Monk as inspirations.

Discography