David Katz (born 1965) is an American author and documentary radio and film producer. He has been described as "one of the world's foremost authorities on reggae, dub, and dancehall". Originally from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, he has been a resident of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in England for many years.

Biography

Katz was born in 1965 in

, California, and raised in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

, where he was exposed to reggae as a teen from the local radio station, KTIM. He obtained a BA in English Literature from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

and moved to

, England, in the 1980s, where he was retained as Lee Perry's biographer, and later completed an MA in Media Studies at

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by ...

Career

Katz is the author of ''People Funny Boy: The Genius of

Lee "Scratch" Perry Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 – 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, songwriter and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development ...

'', ''Solid Foundation: An Oral History of Reggae'', and ''Caribbean Lives:

Jimmy Cliff James Chambers, Jamaican Order of Merit, OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hol ...

''. He has contributed to many other books on music and culture, including the ''Rough Guide to Reggae'', ''A Tapestry of Jamaica'', ''Caribbean Popular Music: An Encyclopedia'', ''Keep On Running: The Story of Island Records'' and ''Mashup: The Birth of Modern Culture.'' His writing and photographs have appeared in many international publications, including ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', ''Newsweek'', ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...

'', '' Q'', '' Wax Poetics'', ''

Riddim In Jamaican dancehall music, a riddim is the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section. Jamaican music genres that use the term consist of the ''riddim'' plus the ''voicing'' (vocal part) sung by the deeja ...

'', ''

Caribbean Beat ''Caribbean Beat'', founded in 1992, is a bimonthly magazine, published in Port of Spain, Trinidad, covering the arts, culture and society of the Caribbean, with a focus on the region's English-speaking territories. It is distributed in-flight by ...

'' and '' Murder Dog''. Katz has coordinated and annotated more than 100 retrospective collections of Jamaican music, has released original records in the UK and France, and has co-hosted reggae radio programmes on three continents. In 2013, he was invited to present at the University of the West Indies' 2013 International Reggae Conference. Katz has produced documentaries for Afropop Worldwide/Public Radio International and contributed to radio and television documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4 and Arte and was a music consultant on the feature film ''Dreaming Lhasa''. Katz holds a regular residency as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

, presenting the "Dub Me Always" reggae vinyl nights at the Ritzy in

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

, London, and has played at venues and festivals throughout Europe, the US, Japan and Brazil. He has also co-chaired panel discussions with performers, journalists and filmmakers at various music festivals and given presentations at different international universities and other venues.

Critical reaction

In an '' Uncut'' review of the revised and expanded edition of ''People Funny Boy'' published by White Rabbit, Jim Wirth said: Mark Terrill, writing in ''Rain Taxi'', said of the book ''People Funny Boy'': Mike Atherton, writing in ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine focussing on rare and collectable records, and the bands who recorded them. It was founded in September 1979 and distributes worldwide. It is promoted as "the world’s leading authority o ...

'', said of the book ''People Funny Boy'': Regarding the book ''Solid Foundation'', in ''

'', Colin Grant said: A review in ''Spannered'' of the book ''Solid Foundation'' says: Jay Trachtenberg, writing in ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...

'', said of ''Solid Foundation'': A review of ''Solid Foundation'' in ''Reggaezine'' said: Chris Menist, writing in ''With Guitars'', said of ''Solid Foundation'':

Bibliography

* * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Katz, David 1965 births Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London American documentary film producers American emigrants to England American music journalists British documentary filmmakers British music journalists English music journalists Living people Mojo (magazine) people Reggae journalists San Francisco State University alumni Writers from San Francisco