Angela Davis

Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American political activist, academic scholar, and author. She emerged as a prominent counterculture activist and radical in the 1960s as a leader of the Communist Party USA, and had close relations with the Black Panther Party through her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Her interests include prisoner rights; she founded Critical Resistance, an organization working to abolish the prison-industrial complex. She was a professor (now retired) at the University of California, Santa Cruz in its History of Consciousness Department and a former director of the university's Feminist Studies department.

Davis was prosecuted under federal law and acquitted at trial of conspiracy in the 1970 armed take-over of a Marin County, California courtroom, in which four persons died.

Her research interests are feminism, African-American studies, critical theory, Marxism, popular music, social consciousness, and the philosophy and history of punishment and prisons. Her membership in the Communist Party led to Ronald Reagan's request in 1969 to have her barred from teaching at any university in the State of California. She was twice a candidate for Vice President on the Communist Party USA ticket during the 1980s.

Angela Davis (musician)

Angela Davis (born June 23, 1985) is an Australian saxophonist currently residing in New York City. Her first release "The Art of The Melody" received strong reviews in the United States and Australia and was successful on the US Jazz Charts. She is known for her pure sound reminiscent of Lee Konitz (with whom she studied), Art Pepper and Paul Desmond. Davis is a 2014 recipient of the prestigious Brian Boak Bursary in Queensland.

Biography

Angela Davis grew up in Queensland, Australia. She studied at the Queensland Conservatorium under the tutelage of John Hoffman and Steve Newcomb. After graduating with first class honors, Davis went to study for a Masters of Music degree in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She has since moved to New York, where she plays in clubs with her own group and as a sideman.

Discography

As leader

As a sideman