George Varga began drumming in bands at 12 and writing professionally about music at 15. A Louisiana native who grew up mostly in Germany, he has earned three Pulitzer Prize nominations as the music critic at the San Diego Union-Tribune. In 2002, he created and taught the UC San Diego Extension course, “Jazz in a Post-Ken-Burns World.” Varga’s latest project is Acid Reflux & The Wardrobe Malfunctions, a free-jazz Ashlee Simpson/Janet Jackson tribute band.
George Varga on social media
Catching up (and looking back) with the unrelenting bass pioneer
Meeting music’s demands
George Varga reviews the new 3-CD/1-DVD collection featuring Miles’ “2nd Great Quintet.”
George Varga reviews new 2-CD set from noted jazz and fusion threesome
George Varga reviews ambitious cross-genre project from the noted pianist and bandleader
JT contributor George Varga has mixed feelings about Brit jazz-pop singer’s latest
An audacious new album from a prolific drummer
Eric Clapton is a rock icon but he grew up listening to the likes of John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. George Varga talks with the guitar legend about his affinity for the music.
He’s best known as a veteran of Charles Mingus’ band and the man who supplied Charlie Parker’s solos in Clint Eastwood’s Bird. But Charles McPherson had a solid solo career as well. George Varga reports on McPherson’s latest CD, where the altoist revisits Bird-with strings.
