Robert Palmer (American writer)
Robert Palmer | |
---|---|
Birth name | Robert Franklin Palmer Jr. |
Born | Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.[1] | June 19, 1945
Died | November 20, 1997 Valhalla, New York, U.S.[1] | (aged 52)
Genres | Folk rock, blues, rock |
Occupation(s) | Writer, musician. producer[1] |
Instrument(s) | Clarinet, saxophone[1] |
Robert Franklin Palmer Jr. (June 19, 1945 – November 20, 1997) was an American writer,
Early career
Robert Franklin Palmer Jr. was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, the son of a musician and school teacher, Robert Palmer Sr.[2]
A civil rights and peace activist with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the 1960s, Palmer Jr. graduated from Little Rock University (later called the University of Arkansas at Little Rock) in 1964. Soon afterward he and fellow musicians Nancy Jeffries, Bill Barth, and Luke Faust formed a psychedelic music group, the Insect Trust, blending jazz, folk, and blues with rock and roll.[3]: 161 [4] The band recorded its first, self-titled album on Capitol Records in 1968. Palmer continued playing clarinet and saxophone from time to time in local bands in areas where he lived throughout the rest of his life.[5]
Later period
In the early 1970s, Palmer became a contributing editor of
In 1985, he was recruited by friends
Palmer began teaching courses in
He worked as screenwriter, narrator, and music director of two documentary films[6] The World According to John Coltrane (that he also directed, with Toby Byron) and Deep Blues (based on his book by the same name).[2] He was heavily involved in the 1995 WGBH/BBC co-production Rock & Roll, broadcast in the United States in late 1995 on PBS.[citation needed]
Works
Literary works
Two of his better-known books are the historical study Deep Blues (1982) and Rock & Roll: An Unruly History (1995), the latter of which was the companion book to the ten-part BBC and PBS television documentary series Rock & Roll (aka Dancing in the Street) on which he served as chief consultant. He wrote a book about Jerry Lee Lewis, titled Jerry Lee Lewis Rocks.[2] A collection of his writings entitled Blues & Chaos: The Music Writing of Robert Palmer, edited by Anthony DeCurtis, was posthumously published by Simon & Schuster on November 10, 2009.
Death and legacy
Palmer died from liver disease at the Westchester County Medical Center in Valhalla, New York, on November 20, 1997.[1]
His daughter, Augusta Palmer, directed a documentary called The Hand of Fatima (2009) about Palmer's lifelong relationship with
References
- ^ a b c d e Pareles, Jon (November 21, 1997), "Robert Palmer Is Dead at 52; Critic Covered Rock and Blues", The New York Times
- ^ a b c d Chris Nelson (November 21, 1997). "Famed Music Critic Robert Palmer Dead At 52". VH1. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
- ^ Kracht, C., & Woodard, D., Five Years (Hanover: Wehrhahn Verlag, 2011), p. 161.
- AllMusic.com. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
- ^ a b Chris Nelson (September 18, 1997). "Rockers Come To Aid of Seriously Ill Music Critic". VH1. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
- ^ a b "Robert Palmer". NPR. November 20, 1997. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
- ^ Sisario, Ben (November 15, 2009). "In Search of a Father in Search of the Blues". The New York Times. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
Sources
- Dougan, John. "Insect Trust biography.". Allmusic. Accessed December 9, 2004.
- Wertheimer, Linda (November 20, 1997). "All Things Considered: Robert Palmer" (audio). NPR. Accessed December 9, 2004.
- Decurtis, Anthony (2009). "Flirtations with chaos". Blues & Chaos: The Music Writing of Robert Palmer. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
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ignored (help) - John Sinclair (1993). "Robert Palmer: Site-Specific Music [interview]". Johnsinclair.us. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
- Robert Palmer collection at Tulane University. Includes a collection of digitized photographs.