Nat Hentoff Critic, Journalist, Producer
Photo by Tom Pich

Information for Presenters

Available for:
Concert performance, speaker, public interviews, educator.

Speaking/educator topics:
The International Language of Jazz.
Jazz Beyond Categories.
Creating a New Generation of Jazz Listeners.
Reminiscing: Jazz Originals I Have Known.
The Challenges and Presumption of Writing about Jazz.
Life Lessons: What I have Learned from Duke Ellington/Jo Jones/Charles Mingus/John Coltrane/Clark Terry/Ben Webster/Billie Holiday and other nonpareil originals.
Jazz and The Constitution: A Music that reflects the living, dynamic structure of the basic guarantee of our individual liberties and responsibilities.

Availability:
Flexible.

Contact information:
Nat Hentoff
37 W. 12th Street
New York, NY 10011
212/366-9181
Fax 212/366-9428

Biography

One of the major voices in jazz literature, Nat Hentoff has written about and championed jazz for more than half a century, produced recording sessions for some of the biggest names in jazz, and written liner notes for scores more. Through his work, he has helped to advance the appreciation and knowledge of jazz. It is fitting that he is the first to receive the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for Jazz Advocate.

Hentoff began his education at Northeastern University in Boston, his hometown, and went on to pursue graduate studies at Harvard University. As a graduate student, he hosted a local radio show and became immersed in the Boston jazz scene. In 1953, after completing a Fulbright Fellowship at the Sorbonne in Paris, he spent four years as an associate editor at Down Beat magazine, where he laid the foundation for a truly remarkable career as a jazz journalist. Hentoff was co-editor of Jazz Review from 1958 to 1961, and worked for the Candid label as A&R director from 1960 to 1961, producing recording sessions by jazz icons such as Charles Mingus, Cecil Taylor, and Abbey Lincoln.

His books on music include Jazz Country (1965), Jazz: New Perspectives on the History of Jazz by Twelve of the World's Foremost Jazz Critics and Scholars (with Albert J. McCarthy, 1974), Boston Boy: Growing Up with Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions (1986), and Listen to the Stories: Nat Hentoff on Jazz and Country Music (1995). His work has appeared in such venerable publications as The New York Times, The New Republic, Jazz Times, and The New Yorker, where he was a staff writer for more than 25 years. In addition to his status as a renowned jazz historian and critic, Hentoff also is an expert on First Amendment rights, criminal justice, and education and has written a number of books on these topics.

In 1980, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in education as well as a Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association for his coverage of the law and criminal justice. Five years later, he was awarded an honorary degree from Northeastern University. The multidisciplinary body of work that Hentoff has produced represents an articulation of the interconnectedness of the ideals of constitutional rights and jazz music and is without a doubt a major contribution to the dialogue surrounding the uniquely American jazz tradition. Currently, Hentoff writes about music for the Wall Street Journal and has a weekly column in The Village Voice.

Mr. Hentoff was named an NEA Jazz Master for Jazz Advocacy in 2004.

Selected Bibliography
Jazz Country, Harper Collins, 1965
The Jazz Life, Harper Collins 1975
Jazz Is, Random House, 1976
Boston Boy: Growing Up With Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions, Random House, 1986
The Nat Hentoff Reader, DaCapo Press, 2001

Biography from NEA Jazz Masters (NEA, 2006). Copies can be ordered free of charge through our Publications section.

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