Piano Prodigy: Eric Reed
What is actually going on out in the jazz world is very different from what one usually reads about in jazz magazines or what one … Read More “Piano Prodigy: Eric Reed”
Stanley Crouch
Stanley Crouch (1945–2020) was one of the leading American cultural critics of the late 20th and early 21st centuries—and one of the most controversial. A poet, educator, and aspiring jazz drummer in the 1970s, he became a writer for the Village Voice and an artistic consultant to Jazz at Lincoln Center in the 1980s. In subsequent years, he regularly wrote essays, columns, and reviews for a variety of publications, including (from 1999 to 2003) JazzTimes. He was the author of 11 books, including the 1990 collection Notes of a Hanging Judge: Essays and Reviews, 1979-1989 and the 2000 novel Don’t the Moon Look Lonesome.
Stanley Crouch on social media
Putting the White Man In Charge
Because Negroes invented jazz, and because the very best players have so often been Negroes, the art has always been a junction for color trouble … Read More “Putting the White Man In Charge”
Avant-Garde Roots Music: Ornette Coleman
In 1959, when Ornette Coleman arrived in New York and opened on the Bowery with the quartet that included Don Cherry, Charlie Haden and Billy … Read More “Avant-Garde Roots Music: Ornette Coleman”
Jazz’s Own Sweet Time
Jazz drumming has no precedent in music history. It is an original way of putting together and playing drums and cymbals, which introduced a new … Read More “Jazz’s Own Sweet Time”
Coltrane Derailed
With McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones, John Coltrane found new ways to swing, play blues and ballads and use Afro-Latin grooves—the essential elements … Read More “Coltrane Derailed”
Invisible American Music
With the exception of Ralph Ellison, John Kouwenhoven and Albert Murray, few major American intellectuals have routinely taken on the subject of jazz. One would … Read More “Invisible American Music”
Maximum Roach
Max Roach is the most highly regarded drummer in the history of jazz, which he should be. At 78—and variously claiming now that he might … Read More “Maximum Roach”
Festivals of Riches Gone By
It was so much easier to put on a noteworthy jazz festival in the past. In 1958, when George Wein’s Newport Jazz Festival had taken … Read More “Festivals of Riches Gone By”
The Place of the Bass
In 1947, George Pal made a classic puppetoon called Tubby the Tuba, which was the story of a tuba that wanted to go beyond oom-pahing … Read More “The Place of the Bass”
Four-Letter Words: Rap & Fusion
We should not care if some rapper claims to be influenced by jazz. We should laugh at those who make artistic claims for fusion. Rap … Read More “Four-Letter Words: Rap & Fusion”
The Genres: Stanley Crouch on Mainstream
The term “mainstream jazz” probably means less now than it ever has. Jazz is, now, itself and whatever else you can get away with. You … Read More “The Genres: Stanley Crouch on Mainstream”
Duke Ellington: Artist of the Century
…Duke Ellington? Ellington, like Armstrong, was one of the inarguable sequoias of the music, easily the one who most developed his talent in every direction. … Read More “Duke Ellington: Artist of the Century”