Final Chorus: Duke Ellington Moves Into Public School Systems
Nat Hentoff on ‘Riding on Duke’s Train’
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Nat Hentoff
Over more than 60 years, Nat Hentoff (1925-2017) wrote about music, politics, and many other subjects for a variety of publications, including DownBeat (which he edited from 1953 to 1957), the Village Voice (where he was a weekly columnist from 1958 to 2009), the Wall Street Journal, and JazzTimes, to which he regularly contributed the Final Chorus column from 1998 to 2012. Of the 32 books that he wrote, co-wrote, or edited, 10 focus on jazz. In 2004, Hentoff became the first recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Jazz Masters award for jazz advocacy.
Nat Hentoff on social media
Nat Hentoff on the Jazz Foundation of America
When the jazz family is suffering
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Passing the Jazz Torch
How the non-profit JazzBoston creates new jazz generations
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Seeking Justice for Musicians in Jazz Clubs
Nat Hentoff on New York Local 802’s efforts to improve benefits for jazz musicians
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Opening Kids’ Minds and Lives to Music
Nat Hentoff on “el Sistema” – an innovative approach to teaching music to young people
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NEA Jazz Masters No More?
I recently received from the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters 1982-2011, a large, handsomely produced history of the award that former NEA Chairman Dana Gioia worked hard to make the Pulitzer Prize of jazz. In his introduction, present NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman writes, “It’s hard to think of an aspect of our country’s … Read More “NEA Jazz Masters No More?”
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Moody’s Lifelong Love Affair
Nat Hentoff on the legacy of saxophonist James Moody
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Luis Bonilla’s Waves of Jazz Exhilaration
Nat Hentoff is excited about young trombonist
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The St. Louis Blues
I’m too often startled by how much I’ve yet to learn about subjects I’ve covered throughout my life-for example, the blues. Along with writing sections on the blues in my books, I’ve recorded sessions with Otis Spann, Memphis Slim and Lightnin’ Hopkins. But never before have I learned so much about St. Louis’ powerful and … Read More “The St. Louis Blues”
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Final Chorus: Teaching Satchmo & Duke to 7th Graders
Nat Hentoff on Mick Carlon and his approach to jazz appreciation for middle-schoolers
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Jews in the Family of Jazz
For 60 years I’ve been waiting for a book that has finally been published in England: Jazz Jews by Mike Gerber (Five Leaves Publications; [email protected], contact: Ross Bradshaw). Ten years in the making-eight of them on research-with 7,000 names in the index, ample footnotes and an extensive bibliography, it is more comprehensive than I ever … Read More “Jews in the Family of Jazz”
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Vince Guaraldi: That Joyous Thing
Despite writing about jazz musicians for over 60 years, I am sometimes sharply reminded that I’ve essentially missed, or badly underestimated, a vital individualist. It happened again on Nov. 28 as I was listening to National Public Radio’s wide-ranging master interviewer, Scott Simon, on Weekend Edition. There was my old friend Doug Ramsey (Rifftides at … Read More “Vince Guaraldi: That Joyous Thing”
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Final Chorus: Torture Chamber Music
Nat Hentoff looks at how music has been used for torture and what musicians are doing about it.
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Final Chorus: Oprah & the Jazz Image
A little exposure could go a long way, if only…
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Final Chorus: What About Mingus?
Is this innovative figure being forgotten?
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Final Chorus: Jazz’s First Lady of Charity
When Phoebe Jacobs, longtime friend and associate of Louis Armstrong, says, “Don’t let anyone tell you Louis is dead because he’s not,” she’s not talking only about the continuing presence of his music all around the world. As the central force of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, Phoebe keeps providing grants to a range of … Read More “Final Chorus: Jazz’s First Lady of Charity”
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Final Chorus: Jazz Revelations for Baby Boomers
A lawyer I know began his jazz listening with the bebop of Bird and Dizzy, although he knew they had forebears whom he intended to sample eventually. Upon hearing Louis Armstrong’s “West End Blues” on Newark jazz station WBGO, he excitedly called me: “Where can I get more records by Armstrong?” (The sobriquet “Satchmo” was … Read More “Final Chorus: Jazz Revelations for Baby Boomers”
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Final Chorus: Is Jazz Black Music?
In January, I was on a panel at Jazz at Lincoln Center. The subject, “Is Jazz Black Music?” is still a lively and even combative one in some quarters. When I was invited, what first came to mind was Duke Ellington telling me long ago that in the 1920s, he went to Fletcher Henderson and … Read More “Final Chorus: Is Jazz Black Music?”
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Final Chorus: New Finds for the Jazz Bookshelf
More than the rest of us who write about jazz, Whitney Balliett’s words describing music often turned into music. Yet the last book he wrote before his death last year was turned down by such mainstream publishers as Oxford University Press (which had published a number of his best-known volumes) and Random House. As a … Read More “Final Chorus: New Finds for the Jazz Bookshelf”
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Final Chorus: The Life Force of New Orleans
From when I was too young to be allowed into Boston jazz clubs, there’s an enduring memory of sneaking into Downtown at the Ken and marveling at Sidney Bechet joyously overpowering even Wild Bill Davison. Ever since, Bechet, whom I got to know when he played in Boston, has been the embodiment for me of … Read More “Final Chorus: The Life Force of New Orleans”
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Final Chorus: My Love Affair With the Clarinet
During the so-called Great Depression, aware of my immersion in music, my father bought a small soprano saxophone for me in a pawnshop when I was 10. When I heard Sidney Bechet, I put it away in despair. I turned to the clarinet, starting a lifelong love affair. My model wasn’t Benny Goodman; he had … Read More “Final Chorus: My Love Affair With the Clarinet”
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Final Chorus: Satchmo’s Rap Sheet
The FBI is proposing a new computer-profiling system, STAR (the System to Assess Risk), that, as National Public Radio reported on July 17, will be sifting through some six billion pieces of data by 2012, “about 20 records for every man, woman and child in America.” Many of those “persons of interest” suspected of terrorism … Read More “Final Chorus: Satchmo’s Rap Sheet”
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Final Chorus: The Thoreau of Jazz
As a teenager in Boston, one of my heroes-after Duke Ellington-was a fellow New Englander, Henry David Thoreau, who, as an unyielding abolitionist and opponent of the Mexican-American war, went to jail rather than pay six years of back taxes. Years later, I learned that Martin Luther King, Jr., was first turned on to nonviolent … Read More “Final Chorus: The Thoreau of Jazz”
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Final Chorus: Expanding the Map
I am grateful for the considerable response from readers to my June column, “Uncovering Jazz Trails.” My hope is that as local newspapers, radio and television stations, and Web sites discover the depth of their cities’ and regions’ jazz roots, there will be more work for emerging local jazz musicians and for their elders who … Read More “Final Chorus: Expanding the Map”
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Final Chorus: Bridging Generations
Having known jazz musicians off the stand from my teens on, I was struck-contrasting with most of the adults I knew-by their dedication to their life’s work. Louis Armstrong, for example, distilled how he and the music were one in an interview long ago with Gil Millstein of the New York Times. Armstrong said, “When … Read More “Final Chorus: Bridging Generations”
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Final Chorus: Born in Israel
Randy Weston can’t be mistaken for anyone else. As he once said, “I don’t like the electric piano because my sound is my voice, and my voice is what makes me unique. A personal sound is the most difficult thing to achieve-it’s an extension of yourself.” I have been listening often to the unmistakably personal … Read More “Final Chorus: Born in Israel”
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Final Chorus: Uncovering Jazz Trails
The headline in Allegro, the newspaper of New York’s Local 802, American Federation of Musicians, heralded the presence of the jazz tribe: “over 8,000 educators, musicians, industry executives, media and students from 45 countries,” attending the 34th annual conference of the International Association of Jazz Educators. And when the annual photo of the National Endowment … Read More “Final Chorus: Uncovering Jazz Trails”
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Final Chorus: He Made Festivals Happen
I first met George Wein in 1949, when he was a pianist working with the renowned Edmond Hall at the Savoy Café, Boston’s “Home of Hot Rhythm.” In 2005, the National Endowment for the Arts designated Wein a Jazz Master (Jazz Advocate Division) “for dedication to the advancement (and perpetuation) of jazz,” adding that “Wein … Read More “Final Chorus: He Made Festivals Happen”
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Final Chorus: Playing Changes on Jazz Interviews
I expect that if anything I’ve written about this music lasts, it will be the interviews I’ve done with the musicians for more than 50 years. My books on jazz consist mainly of interviews, as do the liner notes I’ve written. My hope is that some of them become part of jazz histories. And I … Read More “Final Chorus: Playing Changes on Jazz Interviews”
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Final Chorus: A Complete Jazzman
I am greatly indebted to Thomas Bellino, whose Planet Arts-a not-for-profit company involved in a network of educational and culturally awakening projects-includes Planet Arts Recordings. His latest release, Turn Up the Heath by the Jimmy Heath Big Band (planetarts.org), made me realize that in all these years writing about this music, I have ignored one … Read More “Final Chorus: A Complete Jazzman”
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