Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.
Life and career
Yanow was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and grew up near
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
.
Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz editor for ''Record Review.'' In September 2002, Yanow was interviewed on-camera by
CNN about the
Monterey Jazz Festival and wrote an in-depth biography on
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...
for
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
.com. He authored 12 books on jazz (including 2022's ''Life Through the Eyes of a Jazz Journalist''), more than 900 liner notes for CDs, and more than 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow contributed to the third edition of the ''
All Music Guide to Jazz,'' serving as co-editor. He has written for ''
Downbeat
''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...
,'' ''Jazziz'', the ''Los Angeles Jazz Scene,'' ''Syncopated Times,'' ''Jazz Artistry Now'', the ''Jazz Rag,'' and ''New York City Jazz Record''.
Yanow has produced a number of records under the Allegro record label. He also hosted a regular radio show called ''Jazz After Hours,'' which was broadcast on
KCSB-FM. He has also served as a jazz listings editor for the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''.
Bibliography
Books
* ''
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life.
Born and raised in Washington, D ...
'' (November 1999),
* ''
Swing'' (April 2000),
* ''
Bebop
Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerou ...
'' (August 2000),
* ''
Afro-Cuban Jazz'' (December 2000),
* ''
Trumpet Kings: The Players Who Shaped the Sound of Jazz Trumpet'' (August 2001),
* ''
Classic Jazz'' (December 2001),
* ''
Jazz on Film, The Complete History of the Musicians and Music Onscreen'' (October 2004),
* ''
Jazz on Record – The First Sixty Years'' (October 2003),
* ''
Jazz: A Regional Exploration'' (February 28, 2005),
* ''
The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide'' (September 2008),
* ''The Great Jazz Guitarists: The Ultimate Guide'' (April 2013),
* '' Life Through The Eyes Of A Jazz Journalist - My Music Memoirs'' (April 2022),
References
External links
Scott Yanow's official siteScott Yanow's Page at the Jazz Network Worldwide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yanow, Scott
AllMusic people
Living people
American music journalists
Jazz writers
Writers from California
1954 births
Writers from New York (state)
Discographers