[Dixielandjazz] New York Times Obit - Famous Jazz CXritic

[Don Ingle]

Likewise about the Sons of Bix recordings.
Don Ingle
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron L'Herault" <lherault@bu.edu>
To: <dixielandjazz@ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 9:42 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] New York Times Obit - Famous Jazz CXritic


> Wilson had very nice things to say about the New Black Eagle Jazz Band, a
> number of years ago.
>
> Ron L
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Stephen Barbone" <barbonestreet@earthlink.net>
> To: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz@ml.islandnet.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 9:35 AM
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] New York Times Obit - Famous Jazz CXritic
>
>
> > Having lived in New York City and a fan of John Wilson for many years, I
> > am saddened to forward this report on his passing.
> >
> > Steve Barbone
> >
> >
> > August 28, 2002 - New York Times
> >
> > John Wilson, Jazz Critic, Dies at 89
> >
> > By JON PARELES
> >
> > John S. Wilson, the first critic to write regularly about jazz and
> > popular music in The New York Times, died yesterday at a nursing home in
> > Princeton, N.J. He was 89 and lived in Princeton.
> >
> > Mr. Wilson contributed to The Times for four decades and was a widely
> > heard jazz radio host. He wrote about cabaret, pop, Latin music, comedy,
> > the folk revival and early rock 'n' roll, but he was best known as a
> > jazz critic. While his favorite music was the swing and traditional jazz
> > he had grown up on, he listened to and wrote about a broad spectrum of
> > popular music.
> >
> > When Mr. Wilson began writing about jazz, clubs lined 52nd Street and
> > the bebop revolution was under way. He spent five nights a week at clubs
> > and concert halls, on a beat that stretched from Greenwich Village to
> > Harlem. In clubs like Basin Street East and Cafe Society he listened to
> > stars from the big-band era and rising young boppers, satirists and
> > chanteuses. His writing conveyed a genial connoisseurship of the music
> > and a quiet authority that made him widely respected among both
> > musicians and listeners. The saxophonist Sonny Rollins named "John S.,"
> > a tune on one of his most important albums, "The Bridge," after Mr.
> > Wilson.
> >
> > In a review of one of his favorite pianists, Ellis Larkins, Mr. Wilson
> > wrote: "His playing is the epitome of effortlessness. His fingers seem
> > barely to make contact with the keys, yet as he brushes by them with the
> > flip of a finger, the music emerges with simplicity and clarity."
> >
> > Writing about the style of a Chicago jazz clarinetist named Frank
> > Teschemacher, Mr. Wilson observed, "He played with wild swoops and
> > headlong daring that led him into theoretically wrong notes that he
> > turned into triumphs."
> >
> > John Steuart Wilson was born in Elizabeth, N.J., and attended the Newark
> > Academy High School and then Wesleyan University. He earned his master's
> > degree in journalism at Columbia University. During World War II he
> > served in the Army and edited the base newspaper at Fort Dix, N.J., and
> > later a military women's journal in Paris. After the war he returned to
> > New York, where he was an entertainment editor, sports editor and
> > columnist for the newspaper PM and the New York editor of Down Beat.
> >
> > He came to The New York Times in 1952 and was the newspaper's first
> > critic covering popular music. In the 1950's and early 1960's he wrote
> > about scenes as diverse as the mambo explosion at the Palladium and the
> > folk coffeehouses of Greenwich Village. Later, as other popular-music
> > critics joined him at The Times,he concentrated on jazz and cabaret. He
> > appeared regularly in the newspaper until 1994.
> >
> > Mr. Wilson was married three times: to Catherine Beecher, briefly in the
> > 1930's; to Susan Barnes, from 1950 until her death in 1981; and to Mary
> > Moris Schmidt, whom he wed in 1983. She survives him, as do two sons
> > from his second marriage, Gordon Barnes Wilson of North Adams, Mass.,
> > and Duncan Hoke Wilson of Eaton, N.H. Also surviving are Ms. Schmidt's
> > sons, Eric M. Schmidt of New York City and Aaron M. Schmidt of Boston
> > and two grandchildren.
> >
> > Mr. Wilson wrote books on his favorite jazz eras. They include "The
> > Collector's Jazz: Traditional and Swing" (J. B. Lippincott, 1958); "The
> > Collector's Jazz: Modern" (J. B. Lippincott, 1959); and "Jazz: The
> > Transition Years, 1940-1960" (Irvington, 1966). He wrote regularly for
> > High Fidelity magazine and Video Review.
> >
> > Mr. Wilson also brought his fondness for jazz to radio listeners. He was
> > a commentator on "The World of Jazz," a radio series on WQXR in New
> > York, from 1954 to 1970. His program "Jazz Today" was broadcast on the
> > Voice of America from 1971-89, and he was the host of "The Manhattan
> > Jazz Hour" on American Public Radio in 1985-86. "John Wilson's Classic
> > Jazz" was broadcast weekly on WQXR, from 1986 to 1993.
> >
> > Through his decades with The Times Mr. Wilson remained a freelancer. He
> > said that he turned down offers of a staff position because it would
> > mean having to attend meetings.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Dixielandjazz mailing list
> > Dixielandjazz@ml.islandnet.com
> > http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Dixielandjazz mailing list
> Dixielandjazz@ml.islandnet.com
> http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz