Sam Stephenson (born 1966 in

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...

) is a writer who grew up in

Washington, North Carolina Washington is a city in Beaufort County, North Carolina, United States, located on the northern bank of the Pamlico River. The population was 9,875 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Beaufort County. It is c ...

. Since 1997 he has been studying the life and work of photographer

W. Eugene Smith William Eugene Smith (December 30, 1918 – October 15, 1978) was an American photojournalist.Peacock, Scot. "W(illiam) Eugene Smith." ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2003. ''Biography in Context''. He has been described as "perhaps the si ...

, authoring three books of Smith's work including The Jazz Loft Project which was published by Alfred A. Knopf in November 2009. The Jazz Loft Project was accompanied by an exhibition, a public radio series, a website, and a multi-media collaboration with jazz pianist Jason Moran. In September 2010 the Jazz Loft Project won the "Innovative Use of Archives Award" from the Archivists Roundtable of Metropolitan New York. Stephenson's 2001 book, Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project, was published by W.W. Norton and remains in print in 2010. Stephenson has been associated with the Center for Documentary Studies at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

since 1996, either as a consultant or a full-time employee and instructor. Stephenson is currently working on a biography of Smith for Farrar, Straus and Giroux, the manuscript to be completed by the end of 2011. Future projects he has mentioned concern jazz musicians

Sonny Clark Conrad Yeatis "Sonny" Clark (July 21, 1931 – January 13, 1963) was an American jazz pianist and composer who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom. Early life Clark was born and raised in Herminie, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town east of P ...

Zoot Sims John Haley "Zoot" Sims (October 29, 1925 – March 23, 1985) was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor but also alto (and, later, soprano) saxophone. He first gained attention in the "Four Brothers" sax section of Woody Herman's big ...

, and

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 ...

, as well as writer Joseph Mitchell, and a national oral history project on primary health care providers (doctors, nurses, midwives) over the age of seventy-five. In the early fall 2010 he's also been talking about initial explorations of a hypothetical independent literary institute based in Durham-Chapel Hill with several fellow writers and partners.

References

Sam Stephenson: A "Loft-y" Vision of Jazz article @ All About Jazz
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External links

Sam Stephenson's Book 'The Jazz Loft Project' Documents W. Eugene Smith's Infatuated Vision -- New York Magazine - Nymag
Fred Kaplan on Stephenson and Jazz Loft Project in New York magazine
Powell's Books Blog
Powells.com interview
The Jazz Loft Project spotlights a hidden jazz realm
Independent Weekly interview

Leonard Lopate radio show interview

Remembering Joseph Mitchell

Collector of the Everyday: Joseph Mitchell

Thelonious Monk: Is this Home? * Jazz Loft Project
Sam Stephenson Author - Gene Smith's Sink, Jazz Loft Project, Rock Fish Stew
Sam Stephenson 1966 births Living people American biographers Writers from Chapel Hill, North Carolina People from Washington, North Carolina {{US-bio-writer-stub