Davis was jazz critic for The Village Voice and a contributing editor for The Atlantic. He wrote many books on jazz, and gained a Grammy for his liner notes for the reissue of Miles Davis’ Form of Blue.
DAVE DAVIES, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. We’re ending with some FRESH AIR household information. We wish to ship our sympathy and like to Terry Gross. Her husband, the famous author and jazz critic Francis Davis, died Monday beneath dwelling hospice care following an sickness. For a few years, Francis was the jazz critic for The Village Voice and later a contributing editor for The Atlantic Month-to-month. He is the creator of many books on jazz, together with “Bebop And Nothingness,” “In The Second” and “Outcats: Jazz Composers, Instrumentalists And Singers.” He gained a Grammy in 2009 for his liner notes to the fiftieth anniversary reissue of the long-lasting Miles Davis recording “Form Of Blue.”
In 2006, he began a critics ballot for The Village Voice that included 30 critics weighing in on the yr’s jazz releases. Now named after him, the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Ballot had over 150 collaborating critics final yr. And he was FRESH AIR’s jazz critic after we had been an area present in Philadelphia and through our earliest days as a nationwide program. That is an excerpt from a bit he recorded in 1980 for his characteristic Interval on the jazz pianist Jaki Byard.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
FRANCIS DAVIS: You are listening to FRESH AIR, and that is Interval. I am Francis Davis. The primary jazz group I ever noticed and heard in particular person was a quartet led by pianist Jaki Byard at a live performance introduced by the Philadelphia Faculty of Artwork round 1966. I bear in mind the tenor saxophonist, Joe Farrell, stepping down off the bandstand throughout a protracted drum solo and pulling a cigarette from the pack within the breast pocket of his sports activities coat and asking me did I’ve a match. And I bear in mind Jaki Byard springing a brilliantly executed stride passage in the midst of one thing else, a convoluted single-note solo performed freed from tempo. I laughed out loud in reduction and delight, and Jaki Byard craned his neck round to see the place the chortle had come from, and seeing me or not seeing me, nodded and laughed loudly himself.
And I inform that story, effectively, I inform it to begin with as a result of it is a story I get pleasure from telling. However I inform it additionally as a result of it refutes or not less than clarifies an announcement made by Jaki Byard and sometimes quoted. I do not play all their types tongue in cheek, he is usually stated. I believe what he means is his intention just isn’t satirical. Nothing is being mocked. I do not assume he denies or would deny that the impact of his juxtapositions is contagiously humorous. Jaki Byard is a one-man jazz repertory, Catholic slightly than eclectic. His model isn’t any mere loopy quilt of unrelated references however entire material. He is capable of hear premonitions of bop and of the avant-garde within the work of individuals like Fat Waller and James P. Johnson, and capable of hear echoes of the previous within the new. And most significantly, he is capable of display this type of perception in his solos.
DAVIES: Francis Davis from a bit he wrote for FRESH AIR in 1980. We requested our jazz historian Kevin Whitehead, a pal of Francis, for his ideas.
KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Francis Davis and I each began writing about jazz round 1980, and he was one to look at and envy from the primary. He was a transparent, vivid, humorous author with broad tastes, broad information and robust opinions, resembling solely boring individuals like bass solos. In particular person, as in print, he had an endearing, self-deprecating humorousness. Final time I used to be in contact with him, he cracked jokes about his deteriorating situation. He helped me alongside in my profession a couple of times, and as FRESH AIR’s first jazz critic, he confirmed the way it was finished. Choose clear musical examples and level out what to hear for. I repaid him by shamelessly stealing one among his greatest strains. Ornette Coleman is Charlie Parker’s nation cousin – I take advantage of that one on a regular basis. Thanks, Francis.
DAVIES: Jazz historian Kevin Whitehead remembering Francis Davis, who died on Monday.
(SOUNDBITE OF MILES DAVIS’ “FLAMENCO SKETCHES”)
DAVIES: We’re fortunate that via Terry, Francis was part of our lives additionally. We’ll miss him. We’ll finish in the present day’s present with a music from “Form Of Blue,” the album which gained Francis a Grammy for the liner notes he wrote when it was reissued for its fiftieth anniversary.
(SOUNDBITE OF MILES DAVIS’ “FLAMENCO SKETCHES”)
DAVIES: To seek out out what’s occurring behind the scenes of our present and get our producers’ suggestions for what to look at, learn and take heed to, subscribe to our free e-newsletter at whyy.org/freshair. FRESH AIR’s govt producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our managing producer is Sam Briger. Our interviews and critiques are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the present. For Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, I am Dave Davies.
(SOUNDBITE OF MILES DAVIS’ “FLAMENCO SKETCHES”)
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