Whitney Balliett

Whitney Balliett ( born April 17, 1926 in New York City; † 1 February 2007) was an American jazz writer and jazz critic of the New Yorker.

Life

Balliett was born in Manhattan and grew up in Glen Cove in Long Iceland on. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, where he learned the drums ( after he heard Zutty Singleton ) and in the summer the Center Iceland Yacht Club played. 1946 until his graduation, he was at Cornell University, interrupted by military service. 1954 after which he went to the "New Yorker", where he first worked as a lecturer and "Talk of the Town" wrote (no name ), but then also own jazz column, after he in 1957 for " Saturday Review " wrote about it. In 1998 he retired, but wrote to 2001 reviews - in addition to jazz and film, theater ( Off Broadway 1960/1 ), book reviews and poems. His reviews have been published in several books. He was known for his lifelike portraits of jazz musicians, which he often interviewed several days and then for notes wrote his article ( he used never tape recorders ). Although he had a fondness for the classic mainstream jazz, he also discussed early, for example, Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor, about the 1957 he wrote his first jazz column. In the 1950s, he was with Nat Hentoff for "The Sound of Jazz" - CBS television movie responsible, where they could play together musicians who otherwise did not occur together.

Balliett was married twice (his second wife was the painter Nancy Balliett ) and had five children.

In 1996 he received an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Quote

" Jazz, after all, is a highly personal, lightweight form - like poetry, it is an art of surprise - that, shake down, Amounts to the blues, some unique vocal and instrumental sounds, and the limited, elusive genius of improvisation. " ( Balliett, " The Sound of Surprise " 1959)

Literature (selection )

  • American Musicians. 56 Portraits in Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York, 1986, ISBN 0-19-503758-8.
  • American Musicians II 72 Portraits in Jazz. Oxford University Press. New York 1996, ISBN 0-19-509538-3.
  • American Singers. 27 Portraits in Song. Oxford University Press, New York, 1988, ISBN 0-19-504610-2.
  • Collected Works. A Journal of Jazz 1954-1999. St. Martin's Press, New York, 2000, ISBN 0-312-27008-9 ( with his comments on old articles ).
  • Goodbyes and other messages. A journal of jazz, 1981-1990. Oxford University Press, New York, 1991, ISBN 0 - 19-503757 -X.
  • The Great Jazz Day. The Story of the Classic Photographs and the Unforgettable film. Da Capo Press, New York 2002, ISBN 0-306-81163-4 (including with Charles Graham, Dan Morgenstern, a great photo for Esquire Magazine from August 1958, 60 jazz musicians, including Art Blakey, Charles Mingus, Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Marian McPartland, became the model for the documentary " A great day in Harlem " from 1995).
  • Improvising. 16 Jazz Musicians and Their Art Oxford University Press, New York 1977, ISBN 0-19-502149-5.
  • New York Voices. 14 portraits. University Press, Jackson, Miss. 2006, ISBN 1-578-06836-3 (this time not a jazz musician, but three jazz club owner )
  • Night Creature. A Journal of Jazz 1975-1980. Oxford University Press, New York 1981, ISBN 978-0-19-502908-6.
  • The sound of surprise. 46 pieces on jazz. Da Capo Press, New York 1978, ISBN 0-306-77543-3 ( Nachdr d ed New York 1963).
Glen Cove, New York Sonny Rollins Sid Catlett Integrated Authority File
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