Gene Seymour is an arts critic and culture reporter who writes frequently for CNN and USA Today. In New York, he was a longtime film and jazz critic at Newsday. His writings have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Entertainment Weekly, the Washington Post, and many other publications. Gene is a contributor to The Oxford Companion to Jazz and is the author of Jazz: The Great American Art, a history for young adults. Gene is a two-time winner of the New York Association of Black Journalists Award for distinguished criticism.
Notes from the show:
Gene started out as a reporter, and approaches criticism from a reporter's perspective.
Got his big break when Nels Elson passed along opportunity to cover the Philadelphia Jazz Festival.
Gene's years as a television critic were among his happiest as a journalist because he got to cover tv, politics, and culture.
Gene's came to Newsday as a New York City jazz critic, but later provided movie criticism.
Gene was raised in a Hartford CT household which always had jazz records playing: Miles Davis, Ahmed Jamal, Dave Brubek, Chet Baker, Charlie Parker.
His Dad's motto: "If it doesn't have soul, it isn't worth it."
His Dad loved Paul Desmond's "Time After Time" and Sonny Stitts's "Who Can I Turn To?"- these songs became emotional touchstones.
Music critics range from composer Virgil Thompson to George Bernard Shaw.
It is not Gene's role to explain on behalf of a musician, but to write on behalf of the spectator.
The art of note-taking during a live performance vs. a movie.
Lena Horne vs. the cell phone.
First Book of Jazz - Langston Hughes
"Jazz is the 20th century."
"Have We Reached the End of Jazz Itself?" - The Nation
Flying Lotus, Kendrick LaMarr, and the future of jazz.
Groundhog Day, The Big Lebowski, and giving movies a second look.
Critics' controversy over Wes Anderson.
John Leonard's disdain for All in the Family.
Better Living Through Criticism - A.O. Scott
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