Blind John Davis

By: Terry Currier

Article Reprint from the January 1996 BluesNotes
Blues in History Index Related Links

Chicago .... The city has a history of some of the finest Blues music ever made. Most of this history comes Post-World War II and developed into what we know as the Chicago sound. Today, this sound flourishes all over the world. During the late 1930's and 1940's, many Blacks left the South and moved North to the big cities to find a better way of life. Some had families who had worked in the fields for over two hundred years.

John Henry Davis, better known to the Blues world as Blind John Davis, migrated to Chicago way before most. He was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on December 7, 1913. His father, John Wesley Davis, was a sawmill worker and his mother, Lillie, was a former minstrel show dancer. When John was three, his father moved the family to Chicago and found work in a wheel foundry. Prohibition came along and John's father took advantage of the opportunities it created to make money. He opened a number of "good time" or "sporting" houses, where people secretly consumed bootleg spirits. His father made different home brews and supplemented his income so his family did not feel the setbacks others felt during the depression.

John was nine when he lost his eyesight. He stepped on a rusty nail and the infection set in his eyes. His mother tried to cure him with a home remedy, but was unsuccessful. Music was the main form of entertainment at John's father's sporting houses, thus, he was exposed to it whenever his father took him by one. John learned to play piano when he was fourteen, out of jealousy. His father paid people to play piano in his houses, so John asked his father if he would pay him if he learned to play. His father bought him a piano and John taught himself by listening to others play on the radio and in the houses. Within a couple of years, John was playing in his father's places and at parties in the area. He found work in many white clubs in town because of his wide selection of songs. In 1933 he put together his first band, Johnny Lee's Music Masters, and later another group called the Johnny Davis Rhythm Boys. They played many of the white speakeasies in the suburbs and the downtown area.

John became an accomplished arranger as well as one of the best piano players in town. Around 1937, Lester Melrose's Wabash Music Company hired him as their house pianist. He received a regular salary and played on several recordings each week. Between 1937 and 1942, he played on over 100 songs, including Tampa Red's recordings. Tampa's material was more complex than most Blues players and he found it hard to find people to play with him. John, however, had no problem accompanying him. This led to a lasting friendship between them. John played on Tampa's recordings from around 1937. He also played on recordings by Lonnie Johnston, Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Minnie, Doctor Clayton, and Sonny Boy Williamson. In 1938, he cut six sides for Vocalion with George Barnes (one of the first Chicago musicians to record with an electric guitar). This was also the year John got married.

During World War II John split his time between working for Lester Melrose and traveling with The Johnny Davis Rhythm Boys. They hooked up with the Frederick Brothers Booking Agency, who found work for them all over the West and Midwest, playing mostly for white audiences. John formed the John Davis Trio at the end of the 1940's. George Barnes played guitar and Ransom Knowling played bass. They recorded for MGM Records in 1949 and again in 1951, but right after these last sessions, John disbanded the trio. He quit traveling around and played mostly solo in the Chicago area, again mostly for white audiences. Once in a while, he worked with Judge Riley who played drums and bass.

In 1952, John and Big Bill Broonzy became the first of many Blues musicians who traveled to Europe. Both recorded for the French label, Vogue. John returned home and continued playing in the Chicago area. However, his personal luck took a nose-dive in 1955 when his house and everything in it burned. His wife died a few days later.

The Library of Congress recorded John in 1958 and 1959, but these recordings were never available to the buying public. John played on a session with fellow Chicago musician Al Wynn, which was put out on the Riverside label in 1961. During the rest of the 1960's, he played almost exclusively in Chicago, except for his appearance at The 1964 Newport Folk Festival. Even in the face of the resurgence of the Blues, (now with a young white audience), John continued playing mostly cocktail lounges and white night clubs. Here was this incredible Blues piano player who became less and less known to Blues audiences with every passing year.

Europeans, however, had not forgotten his brief visit. Their interest prompted another trip in 1973. During this visit, John made a studio recording for the German label Happy Bird, and a live recording for another German label called Christi. Bruce Gulag's new Chicago label put out the live recording in the United States in 1977.

Throughout the next dozen years, John made regular trips to Europe once or twice a year. He recorded for Oldie Blues, out of Holland, in 1974. He also played more festivals, mostly in the Midwest and in Central Canada. He now played mostly Blues music with a favorite standard thrown in once in a while. John made audiences happy with his wonderful sense of humor and, of course, his playing.

John was a very good person. In the 1970's he spent much of his time and money looking after Tampa Red, who was living in Sacred Heart Nursing Home, in Chicago.

John recorded for the Chicago based label, Sirens, in 1977; the German label L&R in 1983; and the Red Beans label in 1985. The Red Beans recordings were his last. He passed away on October 12, 1985 in Chicago, the city that was home to him most of his life. Although he never gained the popularity of fellow Blues piano players such as Memphis Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, Champion Jack Dupree and Sunnyland Slim, his talent was right up there with theirs.

Blind John Davis

Related Links: