Among his best-known contributions to the albums of others are Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch!, Andrew Hill's Point of Departure, and Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, of which critic Greil Marcus wrote (in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll), "Richard Davis provided the greatest bass ever heard on a rock album.

After high school, he studied double bass with Rudolf Fahsbender of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra while attending VanderCook College of Music.

In the early 1950s, Richard Davis met and played with Sonny Blount (globally celebrated later as the other-worldly orchestral revolutionary Sun Ra) and spent a year with the artistically and commercially successful pianist Ahmad Jamal’s trio.

He worked with many of the small jazz groups of the time, including those led by Eric Dolphy, Jaki Byard, Booker Ervin, Andrew Hill, Elvin Jones, and Cal Tjader.

[4] He has also played with Don Sebesky, Oliver Nelson, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson and Ahmad Jamal.

In 1968 with Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, Davis served as the de facto musical director, leading the improvisational ensemble through the album’s creation.

Producer Lewis Merenstein described Davis as “the soul of the album.” His bass lines on Astral Weeks were lauded by critics for their emotional depth, propelling the album to its status as a classic.

[7] Davis recorded with pop and rock musicians in the 1970s, appearing on Laura Nyro's Smile and Bruce Springsteen's Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. and Born to Run.

During his career he performed classical music with conductors Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Leopold Stokowski, and Gunther Schuller.

[5] In 1964 Richard Davis featured on Tony Williams’s debut album Life Time, showcasing his innovative approach.

He played on Frank Sinatra’s Watertown (1969), Paul Simon’s Something So Right (1973), and on several classic tracks from 1975, including Bruce Springsteen’s Meeting Across the River, Laura Nyro’s Smile, and Janis Ian’s At Seventeen.