About this ebook
A collection of articles on and interviews with jazz greats Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Wynton Marsalis, Miles Davis, and others.
Howard Reich has reported on jazz for the Chicago Tribune for almost four decades, and in this time, he has met musicians both celebrated and obscure. From his exclusive interviews with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, and Ella Fitzgerald, to profiles of the early masters like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Billie Holiday, this book illustrates Reich’s deep understanding of the performances, recordings, and cultural legacies of these jazz masters.
This book, comprising Reich’s award-winning Chicago Tribune articles, shows readers his unmatched critical insight and unrivaled access to the diverse range of jazz musicians the world over, including the little-known artists who, while never in the national spotlight, were nonetheless instrumental to the evolution of jazz. Divided thematically, Portraits in Jazz is a journey from the time of jazz music’s originators, great singers, and early masters through to its courageous standouts, game changers, and regional influencers from Chicago to Cuba and across the globe.
Reich, himself a piano performance major at Northwestern University, says in the introduction that studying theory and history are essential to understanding jazz’s inner-workings. But these portraits weren’t created as academic theses or history-book lessons. They are on-the-spot, in the heat of the moment questions of its greatest practitioners, articles and essays in the here and now, taking readers one step closer to the meaning of sound.
Howard Reich has reported on jazz for the Chicago Tribune for almost four decades, and in this time, he has met musicians both celebrated and obscure. From his exclusive interviews with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, and Ella Fitzgerald, to profiles of the early masters like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Billie Holiday, this book illustrates Reich’s deep understanding of the performances, recordings, and cultural legacies of these jazz masters.
This book, comprising Reich’s award-winning Chicago Tribune articles, shows readers his unmatched critical insight and unrivaled access to the diverse range of jazz musicians the world over, including the little-known artists who, while never in the national spotlight, were nonetheless instrumental to the evolution of jazz. Divided thematically, Portraits in Jazz is a journey from the time of jazz music’s originators, great singers, and early masters through to its courageous standouts, game changers, and regional influencers from Chicago to Cuba and across the globe.
Reich, himself a piano performance major at Northwestern University, says in the introduction that studying theory and history are essential to understanding jazz’s inner-workings. But these portraits weren’t created as academic theses or history-book lessons. They are on-the-spot, in the heat of the moment questions of its greatest practitioners, articles and essays in the here and now, taking readers one step closer to the meaning of sound.
About the author
Howard Reich has been covering music and the arts for the Chicago Tribune since 1977 and joined the staff in 1983. He’s producer-writer-narrator of the feature documentary film "Prisoner of Her Past," which has aired on PBS more than 510 times in 140 markets and continues to tour the world.
Reich has written several books: Prisoner of Her Past (2011), which inspired the documentary film and originally was published in hard cover as The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich (2006); Let Freedom Swing: Collected Writings on Jazz, Blues and Gospel (2010); Jelly’s Blues (2003, with William Gaines); and Van Cliburn (1993).
He has won two Deems Taylor Awards from ASCAP (2002 and 1999); the Alumni Merit Award from Northwestern University's Alumni Association (2007); seven Peter Lisagor Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists (2010, 2008, 2005, 2003, two in 1999 and 1998); three Jones-Beck Awards from the Chicago Tribune (2001, 1999 and 1990); and the Excellence in Journalism Award from the Chicago Association of Black Journalists (1996). He was named Chicago Journalist of the Year (2011) by the Chicago Journalists Association, which also has presented him with three Sarah Brown Boyden Awards (2012, 2010 and 2004).
He has served on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize in Music four times, including the year the award was given to a jazz composition for the first time: 1997, for Wynton Marsalis’ "Blood on the Fields.” Reich graduated as a piano performance major from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, where he also did graduate studies in music theory and history; he attended the school on an Illinois State Scholarship. He is married to Pam Becker, an editor at the Tribune.
Reich has written several books: Prisoner of Her Past (2011), which inspired the documentary film and originally was published in hard cover as The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich (2006); Let Freedom Swing: Collected Writings on Jazz, Blues and Gospel (2010); Jelly’s Blues (2003, with William Gaines); and Van Cliburn (1993).
He has won two Deems Taylor Awards from ASCAP (2002 and 1999); the Alumni Merit Award from Northwestern University's Alumni Association (2007); seven Peter Lisagor Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists (2010, 2008, 2005, 2003, two in 1999 and 1998); three Jones-Beck Awards from the Chicago Tribune (2001, 1999 and 1990); and the Excellence in Journalism Award from the Chicago Association of Black Journalists (1996). He was named Chicago Journalist of the Year (2011) by the Chicago Journalists Association, which also has presented him with three Sarah Brown Boyden Awards (2012, 2010 and 2004).
He has served on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize in Music four times, including the year the award was given to a jazz composition for the first time: 1997, for Wynton Marsalis’ "Blood on the Fields.” Reich graduated as a piano performance major from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, where he also did graduate studies in music theory and history; he attended the school on an Illinois State Scholarship. He is married to Pam Becker, an editor at the Tribune.
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