Terry Teachout
Encyclopedia
Terry Teachout is a critic
, biographer
and blog
ger. He is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal
, the chief culture critic of Commentary
, and the author of "Sightings," a column about the arts in America that appears biweekly in the Friday Wall Street Journal. He blogs at About Last Night along with Chicago
-based critic Laura Demanski (who writes under the name "Our Girl in Chicago") and North Carolinian
blogger Carrie Frye and has written about the arts for many other magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times and National Review
.
. He attended St. John’s College
in Annapolis, Maryland; William Jewell College
in Liberty, Missouri; and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
. He lived in Kansas City
from 1975 to 1983, working as a jazz bassist and writing about classical music and jazz for the Kansas City Star. He moved to New York City in 1985, working as an editor at Harper's Magazine
(1985–87) and an editorial writer for the New York Daily News
(1987–93) and as the News classical music and dance critic (1993–2000). In 2004 he was appointed by President Bush to the National Council on the Arts, the advisory and review panel of the National Endowment for the Arts
, completing his term in 2010. In 2005 he was hospitalized with congestive heart failure, but has since recovered. A political conservative with wide-ranging cultural interests and sympathies, he maintains cordial relationships with artists, critics, and bloggers from all parts of the political spectrum.
Teachout's first play, Satchmo at the Waldorf, a one-man-two-character play about Louis Armstrong
and Joe Glaser, his manager, was premiered at Orlando Shakespeare Theatre's Mandell Theatre in Orlando, Fla., on Sept. 15, 2011. His most recent book is Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong (2009, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; JR Books Ltd in the UK, Larousse in Brazil). "With Pops, his eloquent and important new biography of Armstrong, the critic and cultural historian Terry Teachout restores this jazzman to his deserved place in the pantheon of American artists," Michiko Kakutani
wrote in her New York Times review of Pops. The Washington Post chose Pops as one of the ten best books of 2009, The Economist
chose it as one of the best books of the year, Amazon.com
chose it as one of the five best biographies of the year, and the New York Times Book Review chose it as one of the "100 notable books" of 2010.
Teachout also wrote the libretti for The Letter
, an opera by Paul Moravec
based on the 1927 play by W. Somerset Maugham
that was premiered on July 25, 2009, by the Santa Fe Opera
, and Danse Russe, a backstage comedy by Moravec about the making of Igor Stravinsky
's The Rite of Spring
that was premiered by Philadelphia's Center City Opera Theater
on April 28, 2011.
Teachout's other books include All in the Dances: A Brief Life of George Balanchine (2004, Harcourt), A Terry Teachout Reader (2004, Yale University Press
), The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken (2002, HarperCollins
), and City Limits: Memories of a Small-Town Boy (1991, Poseidon Press). He is the editor of Beyond the Boom: New Voices on American Life, Culture, and Politics (1990, Poseidon Press, introduction by Tom Wolfe) and Ghosts on the Roof: Selected Journalism of Whittaker Chambers
, 1931-1959 (1989, Regnery Gateway). In 1992 he rediscovered the manuscript of A Second Mencken Chrestomathy among H.L. Mencken's private papers and edited it for publication by Alfred A. Knopf
(1995). He is now writing Mood Indigo: A Life of Duke Ellington, which will be published by Gotham Books in 2014.
He wrote the forewords to Paul Taylor's Private Domain: An Autobiography (1999, University of Pittsburgh Press), Elaine Dundy
's The Dud Avocado (2007, New York Review Books Classics), William Bailey's William Bailey on Canvas (2007, Betty Cuningham Gallery), and Richard Stark
's Flashfire and Firebreak (2011, University of Chicago Press
) and contributed to The Oxford Companion to Jazz (2000, Oxford University Press), Field-Tested Books (2008, Coudal Partners), and Robert Gottlieb
's Reading Dance (2008, Pantheon). He also appears in two film documentaries about dance, Mirra Bank's Last Dance (2002) and Deborah Novak's Steven Caras: See Them Dance (2011).
Teachout contributed notes on recordings by Louis Armstrong
, Gene Krupa
and Oscar Peterson
to Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology
(2011) and has written liner notes
for CDs by jazz musicians Karrin Allyson
, Gene Bertoncini
, Ruby Braff
and Ellis Larkins
, Julia Dollison, Jim Ferguson, Roger Kellaway
, Diana Krall
, Joe Mooney
, Marian McPartland
, Mike Metheny
, Maria Schneider
, Kendra Shank and Luciana Souza
, the pop-jazz Lascivious Biddies
, the bluegrass band Nickel Creek
, and the classical ensembles Chanticleer
and the Trio Solisti.
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
, biographer
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
and blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger. He is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, the chief culture critic of Commentary
Commentary (magazine)
Commentary is a monthly American magazine on politics, Judaism, social and cultural issues. It was founded by the American Jewish Committee in 1945. By 1960 its editor was Norman Podhoretz, a liberal at the time who moved sharply to the right in the 1970s and 1980s becoming a strong voice for the...
, and the author of "Sightings," a column about the arts in America that appears biweekly in the Friday Wall Street Journal. He blogs at About Last Night along with Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
-based critic Laura Demanski (who writes under the name "Our Girl in Chicago") and North Carolinian
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
blogger Carrie Frye and has written about the arts for many other magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times and National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
.
Life and writings
Teachout grew up in Sikeston, MissouriSikeston, Missouri
Sikeston is a city located both in southern Scott County and northern New Madrid County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is geographically situated just north of the "Missouri Bootheel", although many locals consider Sikeston a part of it. By way of Interstate 55, Sikeston is close to the...
. He attended St. John’s College
St. John's College, U.S.
St. John's College is a liberal arts college with two U.S. campuses: one in Annapolis, Maryland and one in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Founded in 1696 as a preparatory school, King William's School, the school received a collegiate charter in 1784, making it one of the oldest institutions of higher...
in Annapolis, Maryland; William Jewell College
William Jewell College
William Jewell College is a private, four-year liberal arts college of 1,100 undergraduate students located in Liberty, Missouri, U.S. It was founded in 1849 by members of the Missouri Baptist Convention and other civic leaders, including Robert S. James, a Baptist minister and father of the...
in Liberty, Missouri; and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
. He lived in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
from 1975 to 1983, working as a jazz bassist and writing about classical music and jazz for the Kansas City Star. He moved to New York City in 1985, working as an editor at Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
(1985–87) and an editorial writer for the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
(1987–93) and as the News classical music and dance critic (1993–2000). In 2004 he was appointed by President Bush to the National Council on the Arts, the advisory and review panel of the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, completing his term in 2010. In 2005 he was hospitalized with congestive heart failure, but has since recovered. A political conservative with wide-ranging cultural interests and sympathies, he maintains cordial relationships with artists, critics, and bloggers from all parts of the political spectrum.
Teachout's first play, Satchmo at the Waldorf, a one-man-two-character play about Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
and Joe Glaser, his manager, was premiered at Orlando Shakespeare Theatre's Mandell Theatre in Orlando, Fla., on Sept. 15, 2011. His most recent book is Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong (2009, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; JR Books Ltd in the UK, Larousse in Brazil). "With Pops, his eloquent and important new biography of Armstrong, the critic and cultural historian Terry Teachout restores this jazzman to his deserved place in the pantheon of American artists," Michiko Kakutani
Michiko Kakutani
is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for The New York Times and is considered by many to be a leading literary critic in the United States.-Life and career:...
wrote in her New York Times review of Pops. The Washington Post chose Pops as one of the ten best books of 2009, The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
chose it as one of the best books of the year, Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
chose it as one of the five best biographies of the year, and the New York Times Book Review chose it as one of the "100 notable books" of 2010.
Teachout also wrote the libretti for The Letter
The Letter (opera)
The Letter is an opera by composer Paul Moravec and librettist Terry Teachout. It was commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera and was premiered there on July 25, 2009....
, an opera by Paul Moravec
Paul Moravec
Paul Moravec is an American composer and a University Professor at Adelphi University on Long Island, New York...
based on the 1927 play by W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...
that was premiered on July 25, 2009, by the Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
, and Danse Russe, a backstage comedy by Moravec about the making of Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's The Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring, original French title Le sacre du printemps , is a ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky; choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky; and concept, set design and costumes by Nicholas Roerich...
that was premiered by Philadelphia's Center City Opera Theater
Center City Opera Theater
Center City Opera Theater is an opera company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1999, CCOT is the only professional opera company in the United States whose mission is the creation of new opera works, guiding works from inception to stage through a series of workshops...
on April 28, 2011.
Teachout's other books include All in the Dances: A Brief Life of George Balanchine (2004, Harcourt), A Terry Teachout Reader (2004, Yale University Press
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous....
), The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken (2002, HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
), and City Limits: Memories of a Small-Town Boy (1991, Poseidon Press). He is the editor of Beyond the Boom: New Voices on American Life, Culture, and Politics (1990, Poseidon Press, introduction by Tom Wolfe) and Ghosts on the Roof: Selected Journalism of Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers was born Jay Vivian Chambers and also known as David Whittaker Chambers , was an American writer and editor. After being a Communist Party USA member and Soviet spy, he later renounced communism and became an outspoken opponent later testifying in the perjury and espionage trial...
, 1931-1959 (1989, Regnery Gateway). In 1992 he rediscovered the manuscript of A Second Mencken Chrestomathy among H.L. Mencken's private papers and edited it for publication by Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house, founded by Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. in 1915. It was acquired by Random House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House. The publishing house is known for its borzoi trademark , which was designed by co-founder...
(1995). He is now writing Mood Indigo: A Life of Duke Ellington, which will be published by Gotham Books in 2014.
He wrote the forewords to Paul Taylor's Private Domain: An Autobiography (1999, University of Pittsburgh Press), Elaine Dundy
Elaine Dundy
Elaine Dundy was an American novelist, biographer, journalist, actress and playwright.-Early life:Born Elaine Rita Brimberg in New York City, of Latvian maternal descent, her Polish father was an office furniture manufacturer and a violent bully...
's The Dud Avocado (2007, New York Review Books Classics), William Bailey's William Bailey on Canvas (2007, Betty Cuningham Gallery), and Richard Stark
Donald E. Westlake
Donald Edwin Westlake was an American writer, with over a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction or other genres...
's Flashfire and Firebreak (2011, University of Chicago Press
University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of...
) and contributed to The Oxford Companion to Jazz (2000, Oxford University Press), Field-Tested Books (2008, Coudal Partners), and Robert Gottlieb
Robert Gottlieb
Robert Adams Gottlieb , is an American writer and editor. From 1987 to 1992 he was the editor of The New Yorker.-Personal:Robert Gottlieb was born in New York City in 1931 and grew up in Manhattan...
's Reading Dance (2008, Pantheon). He also appears in two film documentaries about dance, Mirra Bank's Last Dance (2002) and Deborah Novak's Steven Caras: See Them Dance (2011).
Teachout contributed notes on recordings by Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...
and Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...
to Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology
Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology
JAZZ: The Smithsonian Anthology is a box-set release by Smithsonian Folkways. The set includes 111 tracks on six discs, with representative works from New Orleans, big band, cool, swing, bebop, hard bop, free, funk, fusion, Latin and contemporary styles...
(2011) and has written liner notes
Liner notes
Liner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...
for CDs by jazz musicians Karrin Allyson
Karrin Allyson
Karrin Allyson is an American jazz vocalist. She has been nominated for three Grammy Awards, and has received positive reviews from several prominent sources, including The New York Times, which has called her a "singer with a feline touch and impeccable intonation."-Career:Allyson grew up in...
, Gene Bertoncini
Gene Bertoncini
-Biography:Bertoncini was born in New York City, where he was raised in a musical family. His father played guitar and harmonica. Bertoncini began playing guitar at age seven and by age sixteen was appearing on television. He graduated from high school and attended the University of Notre Dame,...
, Ruby Braff
Ruby Braff
Reuben "Ruby" Braff was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. Jack Teagarden was once asked about him on the Gary Moore TV show and described Ruby as "The Ivy League Louis Armstrong."Braff was born in Boston...
and Ellis Larkins
Ellis Larkins
Ellis Larkins was an African-American jazz pianist born in Baltimore, Maryland, perhaps best known for his two recordings with Ella Fitzgerald, the albums Ella Sings Gershwin and Songs in a Mellow Mood .Larkins was the first African American to attend the Peabody Conservatory of Music, a...
, Julia Dollison, Jim Ferguson, Roger Kellaway
Roger Kellaway
Roger Kellaway is an American composer, arranger, and pianist.Born in Waban, Massachusetts, he is an alumnus of the New England Conservatory...
, Diana Krall
Diana Krall
Diana Jean Krall, OC, OBC is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer, known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 6 million albums in the US and over 15 million worldwide; altogether, she has sold more albums than any other female jazz artist during the 1990s and 2000s...
, Joe Mooney
Joe Mooney (musician)
Joe Mooney was an American jazz and pop accordionist and organist.-Biography:Mooney was born in Paterson, New Jersey, United States. Mooney went blind around age ten...
, Marian McPartland
Marian McPartland
Margaret Marian McPartland, OBE is an English-born jazz pianist, composer, writer, and the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio, NPR.-Early life:...
, Mike Metheny
Mike Metheny
Mike Metheny is an American jazz flugelhornist and music journalist. He is perhaps best known as the brother of jazz guitarist and composer Pat Metheny. Metheny studied music education at the University of Missouri and Northeast Missouri State University, then played trumpet in the Army Field Band...
, Maria Schneider
Maria Schneider (musician)
Maria Schneider is an American arranger, composer, and big-band leader who has won multiple awards. In 2005, her album Concert in the Garden won a Grammy for "Best Large Ensemble Album"...
, Kendra Shank and Luciana Souza
Luciana Souza
Luciana Souza is a Brazilian jazz singer and composer who has crossed over into classical music.Daughter of poet Tereza Souza and singer-composer-guitarist Walter Santos, she grew up in São Paulo. She is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston from which she received a Bachelor's...
, the pop-jazz Lascivious Biddies
Lascivious Biddies
The Lascivious Biddies are a band based in New York City that play a mixture of pop, jazz and cabaret.They have been featured on The Food Network, The Discovery Channel, Fuse TV, a national TV commercial for Chili’s Restaurants, a segment on CBS Evening News, and heard nationally on NPR, local...
, the bluegrass band Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek was an American progressive acoustic music trio consisting of Chris Thile , Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins . The band was founded in 1989 and released 6 albums between 1993 and 2006...
, and the classical ensembles Chanticleer
Chanticleer (ensemble)
Based in San Francisco, California, Chanticleer is a full-time classical vocal ensemble in the United States. Over the last three decades, it has developed a major reputation for its interpretations of Renaissance music, but it also performs a wide repertoire of jazz, gospel, and other venturesome...
and the Trio Solisti.
External links
- Information on the world premiere of Satchmo at the Waldorf in Orlando, Fla., on Sept. 15, 2011
- Reviews of Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong, links to radio and TV interviews and podcasts about the book, and a list of frequently asked questions about Armstrong and Pops
- Brian Lamb interviews Terry Teachout about Pops on C-SPAN
- Big Think video interview with Terry Teachout about Pops and his work as a drama critic and opera librettist
- Maud Newton interview with Terry Teachout on his book about George Balanchine and other writings
- National Review interview with Terry Teachout on his book about H.L. Mencken
- Bookpod audio essay with Terry Teachout about "Finding the city of no limits"