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Bob Blumenthal: Grammy Award Winning Jazz Critic

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Bob Blumenthal: Grammy Award Winning Jazz Critic

Introduction to Bob Blumenthal. 1:42 min. Interview: Raymond Elman.  Post-Production: Lee Skye. Music:  Gary Burton.  Recorded via ZOOM  5/2/2025, Miami-Boston.

 

BOB BLUMENTHAL began writing jazz criticism in 1969 while attending Harvard College. He was a contributing editor of the Boston Phoenix (1969-1989) and a contributor to The Boston Globe (1990-2002), and has also appeared in such publications as the Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone, the Village Voice, Down Beat, JazzTimes and Jazziz. Between 2002 and 2009, he served as Creative Consultant for Marsalis Music, the record label founded by saxophonist Branford Marsalis.

Blumenthal has also provided radio and television commentary for American and Canadian media, and served as a panelist for several public and private arts organizations, as well as at music festivals in Europe, the Caribbean and South America. He was one of six commissioners for the Recording Industry Association of America who selected the White House Record Library during the Carter Administration; has written hundreds of album notes, including all notes in Blue Note Records’ RVG reissue series; and won two Grammy awards for best album notes for collections by John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

Blumenthal was the critic-in-residence at Burlington, Vermont’s Discover Jazz Festival for 16 years, served in a similar role at the 2011 Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and designed a five-part video jazz history for the Montreal Jazz Festival.

In addition to contributing essays to Jazz: Photographs of the Masters (Jacques Lowe), Jazz: The First Hundred Years (John Edward Hasse, editor), The Oxford Companion to Jazz (Bill Kirchner, editor) and the text Discover Jazz, Blumenthal’s first book, “Jazz: An Introduction to the History and Legends Behind America’s Music” (HarperCollins/Smithsonian) was published in 2007 and hailed as “the single best compact introduction to jazz currently available” by the Wall Street Journal. His second book, “Saxophone Colossus: A Portrait of Sonny Rollins” (Abrams), in collaboration with photographer John Abbott, was published in 2010.

Blumenthal holds degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Law School.  He is married to Public Broadcasting innovator Denise Blumenthal.  They have one son and two grandchildren.

— Lasell University 

The videos below were recorded via Zoom, are organized by Success Factor, and run between 30 seconds and 7 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES:    2:24 min.

Where did you grow up, and what was your first awareness of art of any discipline?

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:    2:58 min.

In the 1950s in Cincinnati, Ohio I saw Bobby Lewis perform “Tossin’ and Turnin’ ” at a theater owned by my neighbor; and I saw Peter, Paul & Mary and the Smothers Brothers perform in a bar in a bowling alley.

 

PERSEVERANCE FURTHERS:    5:19 min.

What was your entré into jazz?

 

CRITICAL THINKING:    1:47 min.

Sometimes I become friends with the people I interview. Given that you are a premier jazz critic, are you able to become friends with the people you write about?

 

EMPATHY:    0:49 sec.

What happens when you encounter a musician who did not appreciate your recent review of their performance?

 

SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES:     7:09 min.

What was your evolution from teenage jazz aficionado to jazz critic?

 

SELF-CONFIDENCE:     0:59 sec.

Did you explore a career as a jazz radio DJ?

 

SELF-CONFIDENCE:     0:34 sec.

What shaped your thoughts about jazz after high school?

 

VALUES FIRST-RATE EDUCATION:    1:08 min.

Most writers I interview can name a specific high school teacher that elevated their writing skills. In my case it was a guy name Roman Schweikert.

 

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND:    2:57 min

Did being hip to jazz as a teenager make you feel “cool”?

 

CRITICAL THINKING:    1:10 min

How did Harvard Law School hone your writing skills?

 

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND:    3:34 min. 

What have been some of the highlights of your career as a jazz critic?

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:    3:28 min.

Given the decline of records, has your writing liner notes skills translated into writing for websites and social media?

 

RESILIENCE:    1:42 min

When people compliment me at an exhibition of my artwork, I don’t take it seriously because they aren’t going to tell me, “This sucks.”

 

CRITICAL THINKING:    6:31 min.

Is jazz suffering the same fate as opera? Is it locked in a time period with a diminishing audience?

 

CRITICAL THINKING:   2:44 min. 

In visual art there are breakthrough innovators like Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, followed by second and third generation imitators, who may be just as good, but are dismissed in the art market. Is the same thing true for jazz?

 

CRITICAL THINKING:    1:00 min

Many people say that jazz is America’s only true original art form. Yet America has always suppressed teaching Black history.

 

SERENDIPITY:     3:06 min.

How did you meet your wife Denise? And how did her career in Public Broadcasting and your career as a jazz critic jive?

 

Watch our ArtSpeak video conversation with Public Broadcasting pioneer Denise Blumenthal: 

Denise Blumenthal: Pioneering PBS LearningMedia

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:     1:00 min.

What’s your favorite movie?

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES:     1:42 min.

One of my pet peeves is that younger people refuse to watch black & white movies and movies that were released before “The Godfather.”

 

CREATIVE FLEXIBILITY:     1:34 min

Which movies do you like because of their jazz score?

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES:     1:56 min

What other movies do you like for their music?