George Frazier (journalist) explained

George Francis Frazier Jr. (June 10, 1911 – June 13, 1974) was an American journalist.

Early life

Frazier was raised in South Boston, attended the Boston Latin School, and was graduated from Harvard College (where he won the Boylston Prize for Rhetoric) in 1932.^{[1] [2]}

Career

He wrote for the Boston newspapers and for Esquire magazine, as well as many other venues, including the New York papers. Beginning as a jazz critic, his Sweet and Low Down column, debuting in the Boston Herald on January 27, 1942, was the first regular jazz column in an American big-city daily. He soon left jazz criticism for general journalism. He concluded his career as a much-revered columnist for The Boston Globe. Called "Acidmouth" by his publishers at Down Beat, he was known for his arch style, acerbic wit, erudite Olympian pronouncements on men's fashion, and general je ne sais quoi.

Frazier wrote the song "Harvard Blues" (music by Tab Smith), recorded in 1941 by Count Basie and included on the compilation The Count Basie Story, Disc 3 - Harvard Blues (2001, Proper Records).

Thanks to his writing, Frazier earned a place on the master list of Nixon political opponents.

Quotes

Links to writings by Frazier

• "The Art of Wearing Clothes", article by George Frazier, Esquire magazine, September 1960
• "Whose Civil Rights", column by George Frazier, Boston Herald, August 30, 1963
• Small sample of Frazier's jazz criticism from 1942, JazzBoston
• "Warlord of the Weejuns", Frazier's liner notes for the 1965 album Miles Davis' Greatest Hits (reprinted in Ivy Style, May 10, 2010)

References

• Book: Fountain, Charles . Another Man's Poison: The Life and Writings of Columnist George Frazier . 1984 . Globe Pequot Press . 0-87106-857-5 . registration .
• Web site: George Frazier, Writer, 63, Dies; Columnist for Boston Globe, Life Editor, Jazz Critic Fond of Nantucket Wrote Monthly Column". . Whitman, Alden . June 15, 1974 . The New York Times. February 7, 2017.
• Web site: So just who has duende? . Rodricks, Dan . August 13, 1990 . . June 6, 2010.
• Web site: Of Datelines and Down Beats: Jazz, George Frazier, and Late-Night Boston . Vacca, Richard . JazzBoston . June 6, 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100530111642/http://www.jazzboston.org/scene/history-downbeats.asp . May 30, 2010 .
• Web site: Mimsi Harbach, 87; former wife, partner of columnist George Frazier . Negri, Gloria . June 27, 2008 . . June 6, 2010.
• Web site: (Untitled) . Maroney, Edward F. . March 12, 2010 . . June 6, 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110707213658/http://www.barnstablepatriot.com/home2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20552&Itemid=32 . July 7, 2011 .
• Web site: George Frazier's duende . Fountain, Charles . June 12, 2011 . . June 16, 2011.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Frankie Newton . Con Chapmam . Music Museum of New England . March 18, 2021.
2. Web site: Sprezzatura . Roger Angell . March 3, 2015 . The New Yorker . March 18, 2021.