b. John Henry Davis, 7 December 1913, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA, d. 12 October 1985, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Davis taught himself piano after being blinded in 1923, and led his own six-piece band for 15 years from 1938. He professed not to care for blues, but his fame rests on the hundreds of blues accompaniments he recorded during the late 30s and early 40s. Among those who used him were "Big" Bill Broonzy, Tampa Red and Peter J. Clayton. Usually he worked in a small band setting, where his generally unspectacular playing would sometimes show a quiet inventiveness. His self-accompanied 1938 vocal recordings are mediocre, but his back-up work, with its rolling right hand figures, was both immediately recognizable and creatively varied.

Listen to Blind John Davis at Finetune.

• (1999)  Vol. 1 (1938-52)
• (1994)  Blind John Davis

• Davis Boogie
• Home Town Blues
• O Sole Mio
• Alley Woman Blues
• Booze Drinking Benny

• Memphis Slim
• Curtis Jones
• Jimmy Yancey
• Big Bill Broonzy
• Robert Johnson
• Blind Willie McTell
• Mississippi John Hurt
• Skip James
• Albert Ammons
• Charlie Patton
• Bessie Smith
• Leadbelly
• Lonnie Johnson
• Sippie Wallace
• Taj Mahal, Hubert Smith, Colin Linden, Henry Gray,
• Hubert Sumlin, Colin Linden, Henry Gray, Calvin Jo
• Howlin' Wolf
• Muddy Waters
• Blind Blake
• John Lee Hooker

• eddielin11