Leonard Feather
Leonard Feather | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Leonard Geoffrey Feather |
Born | London, England | 13 September 1914
Died | 22 September 1994 Encino, California, US | (aged 80)
Genres | Jazz |
Occupation(s) | Journalist, composer |
Instrument(s) | Piano |
Spouse(s) | Jane Feather |
Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing.[1]
Biography
Feather was born in London, England, into an upper middle-class Jewish family. He learned to play the piano and clarinet without formal training and started writing about jazz and film by his late teens. At the age of twenty-one, Feather made his first visit to the United States, and after working in the UK and the US as a record producer finally settled in New York City in 1939, where he lived until moving to Los Angeles in 1960. Feather was co-editor of Metronome magazine[2] and served as chief jazz critic for the Los Angeles Times until his death.[1]
Feather made a significant contribution to the development of jazz broadcasting in Britain, first devising three Evergreens of Jazz programmes broadcast in August and September 1936, using George Scott-Wood and His Six Swingers.[3] Leonard Feather's Swing Time, which was first broadcast National Service in January 1937, probably derived its programme title from the 1936 American RKO musical film, songs from which were featured in BBC gramophone recitals several times in December 1936. Initially trailed in the Radio Times as a programme of "Gramophone Records of Dance Music (Swing Time)".[4] He also wrote the regular 'Tempo di Jazz' column in the Radio Times in the mid-1930s.[5]
Feather's compositions have been widely recorded, including "Evil Gal Blues" and "Blowtop Blues" by
He wrote the lyrics to the jazz song "Whisper Not", which was recorded by Ella Fitzgerald on her 1966 Verve release of the same name.[1]
In 1984, Feather was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.[11] Feather's archives are part of the International Jazz Collections at the University of Idaho Library.[12]
Feather died from complications of pneumonia in Encino, Los Angeles, California, at the age of 80. He was the father of lyricist and songwriter Lorraine Feather.[13]
Bibliography
- 1955: The Encyclopedia of Jazz, with foreword by Duke Ellington (Horizon Press)
- 1956: The Encyclopedia Yearbook of Jazz (Horizon)
- 1993 reprint (Da Capo) ISBN 0-306-80529-4
- 1993 reprint (Da Capo)
- 1963: Laughter from the Hip co-written with ISBN 978-0-306-80092-4
- 1966: The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Sixties
- 1972: From Satchmo to Miles (Stein and Day)
- 1987 reprint (Da Capo) ISBN 1-4176-1892-2
- 1987 reprint (Da Capo)
- 1977: Inside Jazz (Da Capo) ISBN 0-306-80076-4
- 1977: Pleasures of Jazz (Delacorte) ISBN 0-385-28786-0
- 1987: Encyclopedic Yearbook of Jazz reprint (Da Capo) ISBN 0-306-76289-7
- 1987: The Jazz Years – Earwitness to an Era (Da Capo)
- 1988: Book of Jazz (Horizon) ISBN 0-8180-1202-1
- 1999: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz co-written with ISBN 0-19-507418-1
- 2000: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Discography
- 1937–1945: Leonard Feather 1937–1945 (Classics)
- 1951: Leonard Feather's Swingin' Swedes (Prestige)
- 1954: Dixieland vs. Birdland (MGM)
- 1954: Cats Vs. Chicks (MGM)
- 1954: Winter Sequence (MGM)
- 1956: West Coast vs. East Coast (MGM)
- 1956: Swingin' on the Vibories (MGM)
- 1957: Hi-Fi Suite (MGM)
- 1957: 52nd Street (VSOP)
- 1958: Swingin' Seasons (MGM)
- 1959: Jazz from Two Sides (Concept)
- 1971: Night Blooming Jazzmen featuring Kittie Doswell (Mainstream)
- 1971: Freedom Jazz Dance (Mainstream)
- 1971–1972: Night Blooming (Mainstream)
- 1972: All-Stars (Mainstream)
- 1997: Presents Bop (Tofrec)
With Langston Hughes
- Weary Blues (MGM, 1959)
References
- ^ ISBN 1-85227-937-0.
- ISBN 978-0671725822.
- ^ "Search Results - BBC Genome". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "Issue 692". Archived from the original on 21 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
- ^ "Issue 675". Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
- ^ "B.B. King NAILS "How Blue Can You Get" LIVE". Society Of Rock. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
- ^ "Remembering B.B. King With Bluesman Guy Davis". WNYC. 15 May 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
- ISBN 978-1843532569.
- ^ Shipton, Alyn (2001). Groovin' High. Oxford University Press. p. 98.
- ^ "Leonard Feather". IMDb.com. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
- ^ "Leonard Feather; Jazz Critic, Composer". Los Angeles Times. 23 September 1994.
- ^ "Leonard Feather Jazz Collection". University of Idaho. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- ^ Watrous, Peter (24 September 1994). "Leonard Feather, 80, Composer And the Dean of Jazz Critics". The New York Times.
External links
- Leonard Feather at AllMusic
- Leonard Feather pianist and producer appearing on Donald H. Gabor's Continental 78 RPM Jazz Records