Francis Davis

Francis Davis (born August 30, 1946) is an American author and journalist. He is best known as the jazz critic for The Village Voice, and a contributing editor for The Atlantic Monthly. He has also worked in radio and film, and taught courses on Jazz and Blues at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a 1994 recipient of the Pew Fellowships in the Arts.

Life and career

Davis was born in Philadelphia. He attended Temple University (1964–69); he emerged in the early 1980s as the jazz critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Along with his jazz writing he has tackled wide-ranging subjects from Seinfeld to Johnny Cash, for whom he published what many fans consider the definitive appreciation, in The Atlantic Monthly. Davis is characterized by his keen insights into the development of American style and culture, with asides in the first person that balance his theoretical certainty and a witty, human element. His articles and essays on figures ranging from Frank Sinatra to Anthony Davis impart a sharp picture of a writer coming of age, and aging, with the artists of his generation.

Francis Davis (disambiguation)

Francis Davis is an American author and journalist.

Francis Davis may also refer to:

See also

Francis Davis (poet)

Francis Davis (7 March 1810 – 1881) was an Irish poet and editor.

Life

Francis Davis was born the son of a soldier in Ballincollig, County Cork. His father was a Presbyterian from the north of Ireland, probably near Hillsborough, County Down. His mother, Jane MacFee, whose brother Daniel had been a United Irishman, was from Belfast.

When his father was away during the Napoleonic wars the family lived in Belfast and Hillsborough. His mother died when he was but a boy, and his father then consigned him to the care of a rich but miserly relative, for whom he had to work at the loom. On his father’s death, he escaped from this drudgery to Belfast, from where he travelled through England and Scotland, earning his living by his trade as a weaver, and writing poems all the while. At the same time he studied French, Latin, Greek and Gaelic.

In 1843 he settled in Belfast where he became editor of The Belfastman's Journal, and then became a contributor to many periodicals. He contributed many poems to The Nation under the pen-name "The Belfast Man". His poems were collected in several volumes between 1847 and 1863.