Neil Tesser (born 1951) is a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

–winning American journalist, radio host, music critic, and author. In 2015, he received the Jazz Journalists Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz Journalism.

Biography

Born in New York, Tesser grew up on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. He attended

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in journalism. Tesser resides in Chicago.

Career

Tesser's career has spanned over five decades, and has included work as a journalist, music critic, radio host and author. Tesser was a long-time jazz critic at the

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...

, beginning his work there in the 1970s. Earlier in his career he wrote Reader's ''Hot Type'' column, covering sports among other topics. As a radio host, Tesser has hosted the nationally syndicated programs ''Miles Ahead'' and ''Listen Here!'', as well as Chicago-based jazz shows on WNIB,

WBEZ WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the tri-state region of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is owned by Chicago Public Media and is f ...

WSBC WSBC (1240 Hertz, kHz) is a commercial radio, commercial AM broadcasting, AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois. It broadcasts brokered programming, mostly ethnic and religious. It is owned by Heartland Signal LLC. WSBC transmits with 1,000 wa ...

, WCFJ. He currently hosts the Chicago portion of "Jazz Across America" which airs and streams a
KSDS -FM
in San Diego. As an author, Tesser wrote ''The Playboy Guide to Jazz,'' published in 1998 by Plume. He has composed liner notes for nearly 600 albums, which have garnered him one

and another nomination. Artists for whom Tesser has written liner notes include

Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is an American jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. BS&T has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and ...

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

Freddie Hubbard Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives fo ...

Gil Scott-Heron Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author known for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackso ...

, Kurt Elling,

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, block chords, innovative chord voicings, a ...

and

Patricia Barber Patricia Barber (born November 8, 1955) is an American songwriter, composer, singer, and pianist. Biography Barber's father Floyd was a jazz saxophonist who played with Bud Freeman and Glenn Miller. She played saxophone and piano from a young a ...

. Tesser is a member of

The Recording Academy National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (NARAS), doing business as The Recording Academy, is an American Learned society, learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is widely kno ...

, formerly serving as vice chair of the board of trustees.

Awards and nominations

Tesser received a Grammy Award for Best Album Notes at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards for his liner notes to ''Afro Blue Impressions (Remastered and Expanded)'' by

. He was nominated for a Grammy in 1986 for his liner notes to

Stan Getz Stan Getz (born Stanley Gayetski; February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wis ...

's ''The Girl from Ipanema: The Bossa Nova Years''. On June 16, 2015, Tesser was awarded the Jazz Journalists Association's (JJA) Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz Journalism. In addition, Tesser received the first JJA award for Excellence in Broadcasting. He was also a recipient of an

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

Deems Taylor Award for his work with Rhino Records.

References

External links

* https://www.allmusic.com/artist/neil-tesser-mn0000105215/credits * https://twitter.com/ntesser {{DEFAULTSORT:Tesser, Neil Living people American music journalists Jazz writers Writers from New York (state) 1951 births