JOHN DAVIS IN THE NEWS
THE LEGACY OF A PRODIGY LOST IN MYSTERY
"A recent, well-made CD of Blind Tom’s compositions by the New York pianist John Davis, including piano solos and dance pieces similar in character to the simpler works of Schumann, Gottschalk and Chopin, has led to a reexamination of Tom’s life and legacy…Mr. Davis’s performances show off the technical challenges Blind Tom’s compositions present in a sympathetic and appealing light. For example, tricky passages in ‘The Rainstorm’ that resemble Liszt’s thunderous left-hand sextuplets in the ‘Transcendental Etude’ No. 12 are tossed off with aplomb. Perhaps the greatest favor that Mr. Davis renders to Tom’s memory is the respect and restrained but expressive care he lavishes on these mostly modest pieces…The complexity of Tom’s life is underscored by the four excellent essays on the liner notes, written by Mr. Davis, the clinical psychologist Oliver Sacks, the author and activist Amiri Baraka, and the professional conjurer Ricky jay. A less likely ensemble of commentators could hardly be imagined. …It is high time to make restitution to Blind Tom Wiggins. John Davis has succeeded in advancing the process.”
Thomas L. Riis, The New York Times
ABOUT TIME DEPT.
BLIND TOM’S TOMBSTONE
"One of the more unusual deliveries made last week to the Evergreens Cemetery, in East New York, came in a truck from Steinway & Sons...Nearby, a small, festively dressed crowd gathered around a granite tombstone--also freshly delivered--commemorating the death, ninty-four years ago, of Thomas Greene Wiggins...The group that congregated around Wiggins’s new tombstone...consisted mostly of the great, great-great, and great-great-great grandchildren of his half sister, Matilda. Though several members of the family live in Brooklyn, none of them realized that Wiggins was buried there until two years ago, when they read about the work of a pianist, John Davis, who was researching Wiggins’s life, and who had recently recorded a CD of his music…At the gravesite, Davis, who also happens to live in Brooklyn, played Wiggins’s ‘Reve Charmant,’ a nocturne in D-flat major...When the service was over, some cemetery workers perched nearby on gravestones applauded.”
Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker Magazine
“In late 1999, [John Davis] released John Davis Plays Blind Tom (Newport Classics), a 14-track collection that has singlehandedly revived the lost legacy of Wiggins.”
Wendell Brock, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Pianist John Davis gives a charmingly simple performance of Tom’s Chopin-lite compositions.”
The Independent (London)
"What brightness!"
Marc Smirnoff, Oxford American
THE GHOST OF BLIND TOM
"Pianist John Davis plays Tom’s pieces spiritedly, and provides informative liner notes. He also includes some writing about Tom by Black Nationalist poet Amiri Baraka, magician Ricky Jay, and neurologist Oliver Sacks. Sacks comments that autistic people cannot be creative, but the music refutes this at every turn. Both musicologists and neurologists would benefit from investigating this miraculous contradiction further.”
Harvey Pekar, NPR
“Blind Tom and John Davis have become the Odd Couple of American classical music.”
American Legacy Magazine
“…today the prowess of Thomas Wiggins, better known as ‘Blind Tom’ Bethune, is barely a footnote in music history...Happily this neglect is at a partial end with the release of John Davis Plays Blind Tom (Newport Classic NPD8566)...Davis has a real regard for the music and delivers it not as a sideshow to music history, but as something to be regarded seriously in its own right.”
Glenn Giffin, The Denver Post
“I think John’s effort is really admirable. It’s not just because he’s trying to right a historical wrong done to an individual. He’s bringing to light a whole area of music that I don’t think we pay much attention to from a historical standpoint.”
Thomas L. Riis, Brown Alumni Magazine
EDITOR’S CHOICE: JOHN DAVIS PLAYS BLIND TOM
The unbelievable story behind Georgia slave and piano virtuoso Blind Tom sounds like it came straight from a movie. But as pianist John Davis reveals on his disc, this is serious music.”
Amazon.com
"This ad hoc trio [John Davis, piano; Alexander Simionescu; and Wilhelmina Smith, cello],...all experienced chamber musicians with enviable biographies,...played it [Shostokovich's Piano Trio in E Minor] with the freshness of a premier. Every little detail of dynamics reached out to grab the listener...Davis' brilliant technique bristled."
The Newark Star-Ledger
"Variously described as 'a rather elusive work' and a 'soft-spoken concerto', Beethoven's Fourth for Piano and Orchestra in G, Op. 58 is a very charming piece that requires deft handling. American John Davis was just the right artist for it. He adopted at once the grand or the majesterial, and the intimate manner, both of which, at times, the work demands: part poetry, part excitement. He surmounted the considerable difficulties of the first movement with breathtaking skill. There was clarity and good timing. The tone was firm and rounded. The slow movement had a remarkable inner concentration and played with deep intensity. The final Rondo was full of sparkle and spontaneity. Under the baton of Guest Conductor, Uwe Renz, the orchestral accompaniment [by the Bombay Chamber Orchestra] was highly imaginative and flawless. Davis's brilliance was adapted with marvelous sensitivity to the music's need for a supple style. On the whole, a dazzling and fluent performance."
Indian Express (Bombay)
“[Blind Tom's] music lives on with this strange and delightful disc of 14 original compositions, played by John Davis...Davis is a superb interpretive pianist, filling out the music with bravura and sensitivity. You’ll love this disc.”
David Stabler, The Oregonian
"Mr. Davis specializes in American music. His performances of works by William Albright (A Ragtime Lullaby and Pianoagogo) and James P. Johnson (Yamekraw) were well conceived... Everything else was nicely done, especially Copland's wonderful Piano Variations, in which Mr. Davis found the homespun lyricism beneath the severe Serialist gestures...The Bartok performance [of Out of Doors] was hardly less impressive than the Copland."
James R. Oestreich, The New York Times
CRITIC'S CHOICE:
"This week's other interesting visitors are both American, both at Wigmore Hall--on Monday, the pianist John Davis , with a calling-card program of Old World Beethoven and Bartok and New World Copland, Albright, and James P. Johnson ('the King of Harlem Stride Piano')."
The Independent (London)
"Debussy's beautiful textures were captured by Davis' clear and perfectly-pedaled playing... Davis' playing in this piece [William Albright's Pianoagogo] was at its finest, brilliantly and clearly evincing the contrast between staccato and sustain. Exceptionally paced, the transition from held notes to trills to fantastic outbursts provided the work with an appealing drive...Davis' rendering [of the solo version of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue] was an elegant one...Davis possesses plenty of technical skill and is capable of involving the audience in the music."
The Daily Californian
"His playing was nothing if not exciting. In a time which has too often seen the rise of 'cookie-cutter' pianists,...here is a pianist who takes risk after risk...thank heaven for the experience."
The Newark Star-Ledger
"They [Gershwin's Three Preludes for Piano] showed that this pianist was much concerned about nuance and feeling...Only a master pianist like John Davis could control [Brahms' Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 5]."
The Times of India (Bombay)
"The exquisite solo performance of John Davis [in Grieg's Piano Concerto]...Exhibiting polish and elegance, John Davis salvaged the whole enterprise. With explosive chords, seemingly-effortless figurations, and great tonal beauty, he weaved his spell and sustained it to the performance's end. His clear sensitive diction, seductive phrasing, and overall ravishing lyricism was mesmerizing."
The Brown Daily Herald
"The four Mazurkas of Chopin chosen were well contrasted and played with a romantic flavor, especially the concluding one in B-flat minor, Op. 24, No. 4, which was delightful."
The Statesman (Calcutta)
“New York pianist John Davis in his new CD, John Davis Plays Blind Tom recently released by Newport Classic, Ltd, has done an immense service to the memory of the great Columbus musical prodigy, Thomas Greene Wiggins. In this, the first recording of Blind Tom’s compositions, Davis has also made a gift of inestimable value to the people of this community, who, for the first time, can hear what the blind ex-slave’s music sounded like…I think every resident of this city with any interest in local culture will find Davis’ CD fascinating and, well, a bit spooky. Blind Tom has been a legend in these parts for so long that actually hearing his music is something of a shock, almost as if he had come to life again or the listener had been plunged back in time to antebellum Columbus.”
Billy Winn, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
“Davis’ excellent performances on this recording [John Davis Plays Blind Tom] reveal that Blind Tom’s original music is filled with imagination and provide much evidence of the colossal facility Tom must have had as a performer. The music incorporates techniques that anticipate Cowell and Cage, with an overriding ambience that may remind you of Gottschalk and Joplin. Amazing music, and the liner notes are a priceless history lesson.”
Herman Trotter, The Buffalo News
“Only now are we beginning to discover the likes of Thomas Wiggins…Fourteen of Wiggins’ piano pieces can be heard on John Davis Plays Blind Tom (Newport Classics 85660)…Davis, a pianist who specializes in African-American music from the Deep South, developed the disc from his concert program Will the Real Thomas Wiggins Please Stand Up!. The recording reveals both the poetry and showmanship of this remarkable musical figure.”
Clarke Bustard, Richmond Times-Dispatch
“On this insightful disc [John Davis Plays Blind Tom], 14 of Tom’s original 100 or so sompositions live on in the hand of pianist John Davis. While Battle of Manassas is perhaps Tom’s most enduring piece, the entire disc is entertaining and playful…Davis has a true love for this music and the liner notes—including an essay by Amiri Baraka—are extensive, In short, it’s an enlightening discovery and a fun disc for all piano lovers.”
Jason Verlinde, Amazon.com
"The excellence of the pianist [in Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto] was fully matched by [The Bombay Chamber Orchestra]...Neither the pianist nor the conductor was a showman. Each did his job with precision and a fine feel for the music...The orchestral entry after the first cadenza, which was sparklingly delivered, was bewitching...And what was Davis doing all this while? He was intensely busy, with hardly any respite, weaving an extensive tapestry of the most delicate, exquisite and variegated patterns--sometimes 24 notes to the bar!...[an] outstanding performance."
The Times of India (Bombay)
"A recent, well-made CD of Blind Tom’s compositions by the New York pianist John Davis, including piano solos and dance pieces similar in character to the simpler works of Schumann, Gottschalk and Chopin, has led to a reexamination of Tom’s life and legacy…Mr. Davis’s performances show off the technical challenges Blind Tom’s compositions present in a sympathetic and appealing light. For example, tricky passages in ‘The Rainstorm’ that resemble Liszt’s thunderous left-hand sextuplets in the ‘Transcendental Etude’ No. 12 are tossed off with aplomb. Perhaps the greatest favor that Mr. Davis renders to Tom’s memory is the respect and restrained but expressive care he lavishes on these mostly modest pieces…The complexity of Tom’s life is underscored by the four excellent essays on the liner notes, written by Mr. Davis, the clinical psychologist Oliver Sacks, the author and activist Amiri Baraka, and the professional conjurer Ricky jay. A less likely ensemble of commentators could hardly be imagined. …It is high time to make restitution to Blind Tom Wiggins. John Davis has succeeded in advancing the process.”
Thomas L. Riis, The New York Times
ABOUT TIME DEPT.
BLIND TOM’S TOMBSTONE
"One of the more unusual deliveries made last week to the Evergreens Cemetery, in East New York, came in a truck from Steinway & Sons...Nearby, a small, festively dressed crowd gathered around a granite tombstone--also freshly delivered--commemorating the death, ninty-four years ago, of Thomas Greene Wiggins...The group that congregated around Wiggins’s new tombstone...consisted mostly of the great, great-great, and great-great-great grandchildren of his half sister, Matilda. Though several members of the family live in Brooklyn, none of them realized that Wiggins was buried there until two years ago, when they read about the work of a pianist, John Davis, who was researching Wiggins’s life, and who had recently recorded a CD of his music…At the gravesite, Davis, who also happens to live in Brooklyn, played Wiggins’s ‘Reve Charmant,’ a nocturne in D-flat major...When the service was over, some cemetery workers perched nearby on gravestones applauded.”
Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker Magazine
“In late 1999, [John Davis] released John Davis Plays Blind Tom (Newport Classics), a 14-track collection that has singlehandedly revived the lost legacy of Wiggins.”
Wendell Brock, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Pianist John Davis gives a charmingly simple performance of Tom’s Chopin-lite compositions.”
The Independent (London)
"What brightness!"
Marc Smirnoff, Oxford American
THE GHOST OF BLIND TOM
"Pianist John Davis plays Tom’s pieces spiritedly, and provides informative liner notes. He also includes some writing about Tom by Black Nationalist poet Amiri Baraka, magician Ricky Jay, and neurologist Oliver Sacks. Sacks comments that autistic people cannot be creative, but the music refutes this at every turn. Both musicologists and neurologists would benefit from investigating this miraculous contradiction further.”
Harvey Pekar, NPR
“Blind Tom and John Davis have become the Odd Couple of American classical music.”
American Legacy Magazine
“…today the prowess of Thomas Wiggins, better known as ‘Blind Tom’ Bethune, is barely a footnote in music history...Happily this neglect is at a partial end with the release of John Davis Plays Blind Tom (Newport Classic NPD8566)...Davis has a real regard for the music and delivers it not as a sideshow to music history, but as something to be regarded seriously in its own right.”
Glenn Giffin, The Denver Post
“I think John’s effort is really admirable. It’s not just because he’s trying to right a historical wrong done to an individual. He’s bringing to light a whole area of music that I don’t think we pay much attention to from a historical standpoint.”
Thomas L. Riis, Brown Alumni Magazine
EDITOR’S CHOICE: JOHN DAVIS PLAYS BLIND TOM
The unbelievable story behind Georgia slave and piano virtuoso Blind Tom sounds like it came straight from a movie. But as pianist John Davis reveals on his disc, this is serious music.”
Amazon.com
"This ad hoc trio [John Davis, piano; Alexander Simionescu; and Wilhelmina Smith, cello],...all experienced chamber musicians with enviable biographies,...played it [Shostokovich's Piano Trio in E Minor] with the freshness of a premier. Every little detail of dynamics reached out to grab the listener...Davis' brilliant technique bristled."
The Newark Star-Ledger
"Variously described as 'a rather elusive work' and a 'soft-spoken concerto', Beethoven's Fourth for Piano and Orchestra in G, Op. 58 is a very charming piece that requires deft handling. American John Davis was just the right artist for it. He adopted at once the grand or the majesterial, and the intimate manner, both of which, at times, the work demands: part poetry, part excitement. He surmounted the considerable difficulties of the first movement with breathtaking skill. There was clarity and good timing. The tone was firm and rounded. The slow movement had a remarkable inner concentration and played with deep intensity. The final Rondo was full of sparkle and spontaneity. Under the baton of Guest Conductor, Uwe Renz, the orchestral accompaniment [by the Bombay Chamber Orchestra] was highly imaginative and flawless. Davis's brilliance was adapted with marvelous sensitivity to the music's need for a supple style. On the whole, a dazzling and fluent performance."
Indian Express (Bombay)
“[Blind Tom's] music lives on with this strange and delightful disc of 14 original compositions, played by John Davis...Davis is a superb interpretive pianist, filling out the music with bravura and sensitivity. You’ll love this disc.”
David Stabler, The Oregonian
"Mr. Davis specializes in American music. His performances of works by William Albright (A Ragtime Lullaby and Pianoagogo) and James P. Johnson (Yamekraw) were well conceived... Everything else was nicely done, especially Copland's wonderful Piano Variations, in which Mr. Davis found the homespun lyricism beneath the severe Serialist gestures...The Bartok performance [of Out of Doors] was hardly less impressive than the Copland."
James R. Oestreich, The New York Times
CRITIC'S CHOICE:
"This week's other interesting visitors are both American, both at Wigmore Hall--on Monday, the pianist John Davis , with a calling-card program of Old World Beethoven and Bartok and New World Copland, Albright, and James P. Johnson ('the King of Harlem Stride Piano')."
The Independent (London)
"Debussy's beautiful textures were captured by Davis' clear and perfectly-pedaled playing... Davis' playing in this piece [William Albright's Pianoagogo] was at its finest, brilliantly and clearly evincing the contrast between staccato and sustain. Exceptionally paced, the transition from held notes to trills to fantastic outbursts provided the work with an appealing drive...Davis' rendering [of the solo version of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue] was an elegant one...Davis possesses plenty of technical skill and is capable of involving the audience in the music."
The Daily Californian
"His playing was nothing if not exciting. In a time which has too often seen the rise of 'cookie-cutter' pianists,...here is a pianist who takes risk after risk...thank heaven for the experience."
The Newark Star-Ledger
"They [Gershwin's Three Preludes for Piano] showed that this pianist was much concerned about nuance and feeling...Only a master pianist like John Davis could control [Brahms' Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 5]."
The Times of India (Bombay)
"The exquisite solo performance of John Davis [in Grieg's Piano Concerto]...Exhibiting polish and elegance, John Davis salvaged the whole enterprise. With explosive chords, seemingly-effortless figurations, and great tonal beauty, he weaved his spell and sustained it to the performance's end. His clear sensitive diction, seductive phrasing, and overall ravishing lyricism was mesmerizing."
The Brown Daily Herald
"The four Mazurkas of Chopin chosen were well contrasted and played with a romantic flavor, especially the concluding one in B-flat minor, Op. 24, No. 4, which was delightful."
The Statesman (Calcutta)
“New York pianist John Davis in his new CD, John Davis Plays Blind Tom recently released by Newport Classic, Ltd, has done an immense service to the memory of the great Columbus musical prodigy, Thomas Greene Wiggins. In this, the first recording of Blind Tom’s compositions, Davis has also made a gift of inestimable value to the people of this community, who, for the first time, can hear what the blind ex-slave’s music sounded like…I think every resident of this city with any interest in local culture will find Davis’ CD fascinating and, well, a bit spooky. Blind Tom has been a legend in these parts for so long that actually hearing his music is something of a shock, almost as if he had come to life again or the listener had been plunged back in time to antebellum Columbus.”
Billy Winn, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
“Davis’ excellent performances on this recording [John Davis Plays Blind Tom] reveal that Blind Tom’s original music is filled with imagination and provide much evidence of the colossal facility Tom must have had as a performer. The music incorporates techniques that anticipate Cowell and Cage, with an overriding ambience that may remind you of Gottschalk and Joplin. Amazing music, and the liner notes are a priceless history lesson.”
Herman Trotter, The Buffalo News
“Only now are we beginning to discover the likes of Thomas Wiggins…Fourteen of Wiggins’ piano pieces can be heard on John Davis Plays Blind Tom (Newport Classics 85660)…Davis, a pianist who specializes in African-American music from the Deep South, developed the disc from his concert program Will the Real Thomas Wiggins Please Stand Up!. The recording reveals both the poetry and showmanship of this remarkable musical figure.”
Clarke Bustard, Richmond Times-Dispatch
“On this insightful disc [John Davis Plays Blind Tom], 14 of Tom’s original 100 or so sompositions live on in the hand of pianist John Davis. While Battle of Manassas is perhaps Tom’s most enduring piece, the entire disc is entertaining and playful…Davis has a true love for this music and the liner notes—including an essay by Amiri Baraka—are extensive, In short, it’s an enlightening discovery and a fun disc for all piano lovers.”
Jason Verlinde, Amazon.com
"The excellence of the pianist [in Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto] was fully matched by [The Bombay Chamber Orchestra]...Neither the pianist nor the conductor was a showman. Each did his job with precision and a fine feel for the music...The orchestral entry after the first cadenza, which was sparklingly delivered, was bewitching...And what was Davis doing all this while? He was intensely busy, with hardly any respite, weaving an extensive tapestry of the most delicate, exquisite and variegated patterns--sometimes 24 notes to the bar!...[an] outstanding performance."
The Times of India (Bombay)
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