The Life and Writings of Ralph J. Gleason: Dispatches from the Front

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Discover the enthralling world of Ralph J. Gleason, a pioneering music journalist who expanded the possibilities of the newspaper music column, sparked the San Francisco jazz and rock scenes, and co-founded Rolling Stone magazine. Gleason not only reported on but influenced the trajectory of popular music. He alone chronicled the unparalleled evolution of popular music from the 1930s into the 1970s, and while doing so, interviewed and befriended many trailblazers such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles. A true iconoclast, he dismantled the barriers between popular and highbrow music, and barriers separating the musical genres. He played a crucial role in shaping postwar music criticism by covering all genres and analyzing musics social, political, and historical meanings. This book uncovers never-before-seen letters, anecdotes, family accounts, and exclusive interviews to reveal one of the most intriguing personalities of the 20th century.

Reviews

The Life and Writings of Ralph J. Gleason is a thoughtful celebration and an engagingly detailed reading of the work of one of the great American music journalists. Above all Don Armstrong captures the astonishing energy with which Gleason sought to make sense of the music (and the country) that he loved. * Simon Frith, Emeritus Professor of Music, University of Edinburgh, UK *
Ralph Gleason was among the most astute and impactful interpreters and mediators of mid-20th century American music, hip to everything from Bunk Johnson and Billie Holiday to Miles Daviss Bitches Brew and the Grateful Dead. In this superb book, Don Armstrong gives Gleason what he deserves, and what we desperately need: a richly detailed chronicle of this singular writer/producer/social activists career, and a timely argument about the indispensable role such people play in shaping and sustaining our culture and our democracy. * John Gennari, Professor of English and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, University of Vermont, USA, and author of Blowin' Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics (2006) *
[A] thorough, unstuffy study of a figure who, like the early journalistic figures he encountered in his fathers horse-racing papers, took on the role of secular priest, dishing out revelations and real talk in equal measure, all the while believing in the magic that can set you free. * The Times Literary Supplement *

Author Bio

Don Armstrong is a retired Associate Professor of Architecture from the Taylor School of Architecture and Construction Science at Tuskegee University, USA, where he published academic writings on design pedagogy and African American architecture. He is now a freelance writer and independent scholar, as well as the creator of the website Music Journalism History and Facebook group under the same name, which provides an important forum for leading music journalists, musicians, and others in the music industry.