Noted Author Nat Hentoff Interviewed at AAJ...And More!

Nat Hentoff was eleven years old when, walking down the road one day in Boston, he heard music so exciting that he shouted with pleasure and ran into the shop to learn that the music was of clarinetist Artie Shaw. In that moment was born a love affair with jazz which has lasted seventy-four years thus far. At nineteen, Hentoff was hosting his own jazz radio program, and by the age of twenty-eight he was an editor of Downbeat Magazine, which was to fire him in 1957 for hiring a staff person of color. Over the years he has written for a number of the most prestigious publications in America, and has authored a large number of books, many pertaining to his passion for jazz.

AAJ Contributor Ian Patterson spoke at length with Hentoff, about his latest book, At the Jazz Band Ball: Sixty Years on the Jazz Scene (University California Press, 2010) - a collection of some of the author's best writing from the past decade, culled from a variety of publications including JazzTimes, The Village Voice and The Wall Street Journal. The outspoken but always thoughtful and considered Hentoff gives one of his most extensive interviews ever, and you can read all he has to say in Ian's in-depth piece, Nat Hentoff: The Never-Ending Ball, published today at AAJ.

To further celebrate the release of At the Jazz Band Ball: Sixty Years on the Jazz Scene, you can read Ian's insightful Book Review, also published today at AAJ.

AAJ is committed to bringing you the most exhaustive coverage anywhere, so be sure to check out all the buzz surrounding Nat Hentoff and At the Jazz Band Ball: Sixty Years on the Jazz Scene at AAJ today!