Overview

Discover the enthralling world of Ralph J. Gleason, a pioneering music journalist who expanded the possibilities of the newspaper music column, sparked the San Francisco jazz and rock scenes, and co-founded Rolling Stone magazine. Gleason not only reported on but influenced the trajectory of popular music. He alone chronicled the unparalleled evolution of popular music from the 1930s into the 1970s, and while doing so, interviewed and befriended many trailblazers such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles. A true iconoclast, he dismantled the barriers between popular and highbrow music, and barriers separating the musical genres. He played a crucial role in shaping postwar music criticism by covering all genres and analyzing music’s social, political, and historical meanings. This book uncovers never-before-seen letters, anecdotes, family accounts, and exclusive interviews to reveal one of the most intriguing personalities of the 20th century.

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9781501366987

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Reviews

Fascinating deconstruction and analysis of the esthetic and ethical crusade of America’s greatest and most eloquent musical critic, Ralph J. Gleason, who understood that the people’s music—gospel, blues, folk, jazz, and rock and roll—were at the root of American identity and at its best spoke with morality and honesty and had the power to sway a nation and to change our lives. * Jann Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone * Ralph Gleason was among the most astute and impactful interpreters and mediators of mid-20th century American music, hip to everything from Bunk Johnson and Billie Holiday to Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew and the Grateful Dead. In this superb book, Don Armstrong gives Gleason what he deserves, and what we desperately need: a richly detailed chronicle of this singular writer/producer/social activist’s career, and a timely argument about the indispensable role such people play in shaping and sustaining our culture and our democracy. * John Gennari, Professor of English and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, University of Vermont, USA, and author of Blowin' Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics (2006) *

Author Information

Don Armstrong is a retired Associate Professor of Architecture from the Taylor School of Architecture and Construction Science at Tuskegee University, USA, where he published academic writings on design pedagogy and African American architecture. He is now a freelance writer and independent scholar, as well as the creator of the website Music Journalism History and Facebook group under the same name, which provides an important forum for leading music journalists, musicians, and others in the music industry.

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