Moanin' the Blues

AMG Review of Moanin' the Blues

Steve Leggett
All Music Guide

Although he helped invent the Chicago blues sound through his session work in the 1930s and 1940s, pianist John Henry Davis was never particularly flashy or demonstrative, and he remained a relative unknown in the U.S. throughout his career. In Europe, however, he was highly regarded, and this solo set, recorded live in Bonn, Germany, in 1973, is fairly typical of his later work. An easy, natural entertainer, Davis favored a kind of lounge lues approach to things, and he tackles lues, oogie, and jazz pieces, pop standards, and even R&B here in this relaxed, intimate set before a small audience. Highlights include his version of "St. James Infirmary," a breezy rendition of "Frankie & Johnny," and the touching and heartfelt closing track "Goodnight My Friends," which features the promise "I'm going away real slow/but I intend to hurry back." While never overpowering or flashy, Davis delivers a delightful history of American lues-based vernacular piano here, and if he sounds a bit like a hundred other piano players in piano bars all across the globe, keep in mind that Davis helped invent this stuff.