Mark Davis

Mark Davis is an accomplished pianist and an influential educator who has performed with jazz luminaries Gary Bartz, Peter Bernstein, Benny Golson, Slide Hampton, Tom Harrell, Jimmy Heath, Brian Lynch, Charles McPherson, Frank Morgan, and Phil Woods, among others. Mark is the author of the Hal Leonard Jazz Piano Method - Book 1 and the Hal Leonard Jazz Piano Method - Book 2. Previous work for Hal Leonard includes numerous recordings for their Real Book Play-Along series. Mark began classical piano studies at age eight and soon took to improvising and composing. His teachers included Adelaide Banaszynski and David Hazeltine. He later studied with jazz legend Barry Harris, who remains one of Mark’s primary inspirations as a player and educator. Mark taught at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and served as Chair of Jazz Studies from 1992-2019. In 2019, he founded the Milwaukee Jazz Institute (www.milwaukeejazzinstitute.org) and currently serves as Artistic Director. He is on the music faculty of Alverno College and also teaches online students from all over the world. Many of Mark’s former students have gone on to successful music careers, most notably Dan Nimmer, pianist with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. "Mark plays with the touch of Teddy Wilson and the lines of Bud Powell." -jazz legend Slide Hampton "Mark Davis is a wonderful, swinging player with all the right stuff." -Grammy award-winning trumpeter Brian Lynch