Kevin Whitehead
Kevin Whitehead is the jazz historian for NPR's Fresh Air. He's been a contributor to the show since 1987. In 2021 he received the Jazz Journalists Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz Journalism. Currently he reviews for The Audio Beat and Point of Departure.
Whitehead's articles on jazz and improvised music have appeared in such publications as the Chicago Sun-Times, Village Voice, Down Beat, and the Dutch daily de Volkskrant.
His books include Play the Way You Feel: The Essential Guide to Jazz Stories on Film (2020), Why Jazz: A Concise Guide (2010), and New Dutch Swing (1998, revised 2023). He has taught at Towson University, the University of Kansas and Goucher College, and lives in upstate New York.
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Coltrane, who died in 1967 at age 40, was a comet who lit up the sky, constantly refining his saxophone style and technique alongside his composing, bandleading and advocacy for younger colleagues.
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Wilson, who died Sept. 1, spiced her singing with funk, hip-hop and blues. Kevin Whitehead offers an appreciation, and we listen back to Terry's 1988 interview with Wilson.
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Bennett, who died in 2023, was known for a string of hits, including "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." Kevin Whitehead offers an appreciation and remembers some of Bennett's lesser-known songs.
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Ibrahim, who died June 15, left South Africa in 1962 and lived in exile in the U.S. and Europe for many years. Kevin Whitehead offers an appreciation, and we listen to Terry Gross' 1989 interview.
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Rollins, who died May 25, had for decades been hailed as the greatest living jazz musician. Kevin Whitehead offers an appreciation, and we listen back to Rollins' 1994 interview with Terry Gross.
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Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews biographies of two musicians who transcended jazz, and to whom recognition was slow in coming: James P. Johnson, born in 1894, and Alice Coltrane, born in 1937.
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Weston, who died in 2018, had a 60-year recording career, during which he lived in the U.S., Morocco and France. He was influenced by Duke Ellington's regal bearing, but Weston also had his own style.
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In 1965, Davis led one of the all-time great jazz groups. That December, they recorded seven sets over two nights in a Chicago nightclub. The complete recordings went unreleased for decades.
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Critic Kevin Whitehead reflects on the jazz notables who died this year, including Sheila Jordan, Andy Bey, Ray Drummond, Bunky Green, Chuck Mangione, Eddie Palmieri and Jim McNeely.
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Some books give Smith's birthdate as Dec. 8, 1925, but more recent sources cite 1928 as his birth year. Regardless, the late musician always delivered the goods, even as the beats behind him changed.