Gary Giddins Explained

Gary Giddins (born 1948) is an American jazz critic and author.^[1] He wrote for The Village Voice from 1973; his "Weather Bird" column ended in 2003. In 1986, Gary Giddins and John Lewis created the American Jazz Orchestra which presented concerts using a jazz repertory with musicians such as Tony Bennett.^[2]

For five years, Giddins was the executive director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.^[2]

Selected works

Books

• Riding on a Blue Note (1981)
• A Moment's Notice: Portraits of American Jazz Musicians (with Carol Friedman) (1983)
• Rhythm-a-ning: Jazz Tradition and Innovation (1985)
• Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker (1987, rev. 2013)
• Satchmo: The Genius of Louis Armstrong (1988, rev. 2001)
• Faces in the Crowd: Musicians, Writers, Actors, and Filmmakers (1992)
• Visions of Jazz: The First Century (1998)
• Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams - The Early Years, 1903-1940 (2001)
• Weather Bird: Jazz at the Dawn of its Second Century (2004)
• Natural Selection: Gary Giddins on Comedy, Film, Music and Books (2006)
• Jazz: The Essentials (with Scott DeVeaux) (2009, rev. 2014)
• Warning Shadows: Home Alone with Classic Cinema (2010)
• Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star - The War Years, 1940-1946 (2018)

Films

• 1987: Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker
• 1990: Masters of American Music: Satchmo - Louis Armstrong aka Satchmo
• 1992: John Hammond: From Bessie Smith to Bruce Springsteen (writer)
• 1999: Contributed to the documentary Barry Harris: The Spirit of Bebop. Giddins (& others) described how Harris developed and maintained an appreciation for Bebop and became a force to engage so many people in a deep love and commitment to music performance.
• 2000: Contributor of interviews throughout the 10-part PBS series Jazz by Ken Burns.
• 2004–2007: The Jazz Master Class Series from NYU: Narrator, interviewer, interviewee; series of seven volumes on Cecil Taylor, Jimmy and Percy Heath, Barry Harris, Clark Terry, Phil Woods, Hank Jones, Toots Thielemans
• 2003–present: Consultant, interviews, commentaries, liner notes for various films for The Criterion Collection^[3]
• 2014: Bing Crosby Rediscovered – American Masters

Awards

• A 9th, 10th, 17th, and 37th Annual ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award Writers or Editors^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}
• 1982 and 1990 Nominee for and 1986 winner of Grammy for Best Album Notes^{[8] [9]}
• Guggenheim Fellowship 1986^[10]
• 1987 American Book Award for Celebrating Bird^[11]
• 1988 Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from Grinnell College^[12]
• ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for Celebrating Bird [book], 1988.
• 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism for Visions of Jazz: The First Century^[13]
• 1999 Jazz Journalists Association Excellence in Print and Book of the Year (for Visions of Jazz) Awards.^[14]
• Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award for Visions of Jazz, 1998^[15]
• Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award for Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams, 2002.
• The 2002 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Best Research in Recorded General Popular Music Award Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams: The Early Years, 1903–1940^[16]
• 2002 Theatre Library Association Award for excellence in writing on film and broadcasting for Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams: The Early Years, 1903–1940^[17]
• 2001 New York Times-selected Notable Book: Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams: The Early Years, 1903–1940^[18]
• Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams: The Early Years, 1903–1940 nominated one of Los Angeles Timess Best Books of 2001^[19]
• The 2003 Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Writer of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards^[20]

External links

• • GaryGiddins.com (official website)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Yanow . Scott. Scott Yanow . Gary Giddins . . 20 March 2020.
2. Web site: Gary Giddens. Gary Giddens. Giddens. Gary. 27 November 2012. 2020-05-08.
3. Web site: Gary Giddins. The Criterion Collection. June 29, 2024.
4. Web site: 9th Annual ASCAP Deems Taylor Award Recipients . The ASCAP Foundation . 1 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210420154420if_/https://www.ascapfoundation.org/programs/awards/award-recipients/deems-taylor/1976 . April 20, 2021 . 2019 . live.
5. Web site: 10th Annual ASCAP Deems Taylor Award Recipients . The ASCAP Foundation . 1 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210417181233if_/https://www.ascapfoundation.org/programs/awards/award-recipients/deems-taylor/1977 . April 17, 2021 . 2019 . live.
6. Web site: 17th Annual ASCAP Deems Taylor Award Recipients . The ASCAP Foundation . 1 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210816172418if_/https://www.ascapfoundation.org/programs/awards/award-recipients/deems-taylor/1984 . August 16, 2021 . live.
7. Web site: 37th Annual ASCAP Deems Taylor Award Recipients . The ASCAP Foundation . 2 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210420170406if_/https://www.ascapfoundation.org/programs/awards/award-recipients/deems-taylor/2004 . April 20, 2021 . live.
8. Web site: 1982 Grammy Winners . Grammy Awards . 1 June 2024.
9. Web site: 1986 Grammy Winners . Grammy Awards . 1 June 2024.
10. Web site: Gary Giddins. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. June 2, 2024.
11. Web site: Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker . LibraryThing . 1 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230331083917if_/https://www.librarything.com/work/327987 . March 31, 2023 . live.
12. Web site: Past Honorary Degrees . Grinnell College . 1 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230610023623if_/https://www.grinnell.edu/about/leadership/offices-services/conference-operations/commencement/archives/honorary-degrees . June 10, 2023 . live.
13. Web site: The National Book Critics Circle Awards: 1998 Winners & Finalists . National Book Critics Circle . 1 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231211123201if_/https://www.bookcritics.org/past-awards/1998/ . December 11, 2023 . live.
14. Web site: 2nd Annual (1999) Jazz Awards . Jazz Journalists Association Library . 1 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230604033831if_/http://www.jazzhouse.org/library/index.php3?read=mandel6 . June 4, 2023 . June 15, 1999 . live.
15. Gary Giddins, 10th Annual Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Awards, 1998.
16. Web site: ARSC Awards for Excellence: 2002 Winners . Association for Recorded Sound Collections . 1 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230401095131if_/https://www.arsc-audio.org/awards/awards2002.html . April 1, 2023 . June 14, 2010 . live.
17. Web site: Simonson . Robert . Theatre Library Hands Out 2002 Performing Arts Book Awards . Playbill . 1 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210624151041if_/https://playbill.com/article/theatre-library-hands-out-2002-performing-arts-book-awards-com-106078 . June 24, 2021 . May 29, 2002 . live.
18. News: Notable Books . 1 June 2024 . New York Times . December 2, 2001 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210610035852if_/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/02/books/notable-books.html . June 10, 2021 . live.
19. News: Sudhalter . Richard M. . The Best Books of 2001 . 1 June 2024 . Los Angeles Times . December 2, 2001 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240601235833if_/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-02-bk-11084-story.html . June 1, 2024 . live.
20. Web site: Oteri . Frank J. . The Temperature is HOT at the 2003 JJA Awards . New Music USA . 2 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240602000517if_/https://newmusicusa.org/nmbx/the-temperature-is-hot-at-the-2003-jja-awards/ . June 2, 2024 . June 30, 2003 . live.