Francis John Davis (August 30, 1946 – April 14, 2025) was an American author and journalist known for having been the jazz critic for ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'' and a contributing editor for ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 185 ...
''. He also worked in radio and film, and taught courses on
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
and
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
. He was a 1994 recipient of the
Pew Fellowships in the Arts
A pew () is a long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a synagogue, church, funeral home or sometimes a courtroom. Occasionally, they are also found in live performance venues (such as the Ryman A ...
.
Background
Francis John Davis was born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
on August 30, 1946.
He was raised in
Southwest Philadelphia
Southwest Philadelphia (formerly Kingsessing Township) is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The section can be described as extending from the western side of the Schuylkill River to the city line, with the SEPTA. The no ...
by his mother, who worked as a medical clerk, and his grandmother; he never knew his father.
As a teenager, he worked part time at the
Free Library of Philadelphia
The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system that serves the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the 16th-largest public library system in the United States. The Free Library of Philadelphia is a non-Mayoral agency of the ...
and graduated from
John Bartram High School
John Bartram High School is a public secondary school serving neighborhoods of the Southwest Philadelphia area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the School District of Philadelphia.
History ...
.
He attended
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...
from 1964 to 1969.
Career
Davis worked as the jazz critic for ''
The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...
'' from 1978 to 1983.
In 1987, when ''
Fresh Air
''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's hosts are Terry Gross and Tonya Mosl ...
'' began broadcasting nationally with Gross as host, Davis served as the program's first jazz critic, hosting a weekly radio jazz feature.
Davis began writing for ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 185 ...
'' in 1984, leading its jazz coverage.
Along with his jazz writing he tackled a wide variety of subjects, such as ''
Seinfeld
''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...
'' and
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...
, for whom he published what many fans consider the definitive appreciation, in ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 185 ...
''. Davis was characterized by his keen insights into the development of American style and culture, with asides in the first person which balance his theoretical certainty with a witty, human element. His articles and essays on figures such as
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
and
Anthony Davis
Anthony Marshon Davis Jr. (born March 11, 1993), nicknamed "AD" and "the Brow", is an American professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Davis, a Power forward (basketball), power f ...
impart a sharp picture of a writer coming of age, and aging, with the artists of his generation.
Over the last few decades of his life he sat with
Betty Carter
Betty Carter (born Lillie Mae Jones; May 16, 1929 – September 26, 1998) was an American jazz singer known for her improvisational technique, scatting and other complex musical abilities that demonstrated her vocal talent and imaginative inter ...
,
Sonny Rollins
Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians.
In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...
,
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, and music instructor, who is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has been active in promoting classical and jazz music, often to young ...
,
Sun Ra
Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...
,
and the late ''
New Yorker
New Yorker may refer to:
* A resident of New York:
** A resident of New York City and its suburbs
*** List of people from New York City
** A resident of the New York (state), State of New York
*** Demographics of New York (state)
* ''The New Yor ...
'' film critic,
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...
, after whose lengthy discussions Davis penned, ''Afterglow: A Last Conversation with Pauline Kael''.
Along with international publication Davis was widely recognized with awards, including a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
in 1992, and a
Pew Fellowship the following year. He was a multiple recipient of the
ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...
-
Deems Taylor
Joseph Deems Taylor (December 22, 1885 – July 3, 1966) was an American composer, radio commentator, music critic, and author. Nat Benchley, co-editor of ''The Lost Algonquin Roundtable'', referred to him as "the dean of American music." He was e ...
Award,
and was nominated for a
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
in 1989 (with
Martin Williams and Dick Katz) for his liner notes to ''Jazz Piano'' for the
Smithsonian Collection of Recordings. Davis won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Album Notes, for the Miles Davis album, ''
Kind of Blue
''Kind of Blue'' is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released on August17,1959, by Columbia Records. For this album, Davis led a sextet featuring saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, pianist Bill Ev ...
: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition.
''
Stanley Crouch
Stanley Lawrence Crouch (December 14, 1945 – September 16, 2020) was an American cultural critic, poet, playwright, novelist, biographer, and syndicated columnist. He was known for his jazz criticism and his 2000 novel ''Don't the Moon Lo ...
, a famed jazz critic who frequently wrote about race relations, took Davis to task in a 2003 ''
JazzTimes
''JazzTimes'' was an American print magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store.
Coverage
After a decade ...
'' column for allegedly speaking with condescension toward the predominantly black contingent of musicians who create "jazz that is based on
swing and blues." Because of what Crouch alleged to be underlying racial resentment and fear, Davis "lifts up someone like, say,
Dave Douglas David or Dave Douglas may refer to:
Entertainment
* David Douglas (director) (born 1953), Canadian cinematographer, director and writer
* Dave Douglas (trumpeter) (born 1963), American jazz trumpeter
* Dave Douglas (drummer) (born 1979), American ...
as an antidote to too much authority from the dark side of the tracks," according to Crouch. Crouch was fired from ''Jazz Times'' after writing the column.
In 2004, Davis inherited the main jazz column at ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'' from
Gary Giddins
Gary Giddins (born 1948) is an American jazz critic and author. He wrote for ''The Village Voice'' from 1973; his "Weather Bird" column ended in 2003. In 1986, Gary Giddins and John Lewis created the American Jazz Orchestra which presented conc ...
.
In 2006, he started the year-end Jazz Critics Poll. He ran the poll at the Village Voice until 2011, later running it at
NPR Music
NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...
from 2013 to 2020.
The poll moved to ''
The Arts Fuse
''The Arts Fuse'' is an online arts magazine covering cultural events in Greater Boston, as well as Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and New York.
The Arts Fuse has published more than 2,000 articles and ...
'' in 2022.
Personal life and death
While at Temple, Davis worked at the Listening Booth, a
record store
A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. Per the name, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records. But over the course of the 20th century, record shops sol ...
on the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
campus.
While working there, he met
Terry Gross
Terry Gross (born February 14, 1951) is an American journalist who is the host and co-executive producer of '' Fresh Air'', an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. Since joining NP ...
, his future wife.
The two married in 1994.
In the autumn of 2024, Davis moved into hospice, having been diagnosed with
emphysema
Emphysema is any air-filled enlargement in the body's tissues. Most commonly emphysema refers to the permanent enlargement of air spaces (alveoli) in the lungs, and is also known as pulmonary emphysema.
Emphysema is a lower respiratory tract di ...
and
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...
. He died at home in Philadelphia, on April 14, 2025, at the age of 78.
Bibliography
''In the Moment''(
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 1986; , )
''Outcats''(Oxford University Press, 1990; , )
''The History of the Blues''(
Hyperion, 1995; , )
''Bebop and Nothingness''(Schirmer, 1996; , , )
''Like Young''(
Da Capo
Da capo ( , , ; often abbreviated as D.C.) is an Italian musical term that means "from the beginning" (literally, "from the head"). The term is a directive to repeat the previous part of music, often used to save space, and thus is an easie ...
, 2001; , , )
''Afterglow: A Last Conversation with Pauline Kael''(Da Capo, 2002; , , )
''Jazz and Its Discontents: A Francis Davis Reader''(Da Capo, 2004; , )
References
External links
Da Capo Press: Author Profile*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Francis
1946 births
2025 deaths
20th-century American journalists
21st-century American journalists
Deaths from Parkinson's disease in Pennsylvania
Deaths from emphysema
Jazz writers
Pew Fellows in the Arts
Temple University alumni
The Atlantic (magazine) people
The Philadelphia Inquirer people
Writers from Philadelphia