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Faculty
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Porter, Lewis A leading jazz scholar, Dr. Porter has dedicated his career to raising the standards of jazz scholarship. He is the author of five books and numerous articles on jazz, an assisting author of the definitive Coltrane discography, and a consultant to record producers, publishers, and producers of jazz radio shows and films. Dr. Porter has been called by Thomas Owens "a shining light in recent jazz scholarship," and Dizzy Gillespie called his first book, a study of Lester Young, "a monumental work!" The second book was A Lester Young Reader. Down Beat said of his jazz history, Porter et al, Jazz: From Its Origins to the Present (Prentice-Hall,1992; formerly available in a CD-ROM version), "This is the one to buy." His recent books are an anthology of rare historical articles and his own new essays ( Jazz: A Century of Change, Schirmer Books, Oct. 1997), and a study of Coltrane presenting 400 pages of all new research on his life and music (University of Michigan Press, Jan. 1998). This book has won the 1999 Jazz Research Award from the Association of Recorded Sound Collections and was called by Gene Lees "the finest analysis of a jazz musician's art I have read"; Down Beat said it is "Outstanding...rectifies errors and gaps of the previous Coltrane biographies." Jazz Times writes, "Porter has topped himself this time…What will he do for an encore?" His most recent project was about 1500 short jazz biographies, incorporating much new research on major figures, for a vastly expanded Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (Schirmer, early 2001). He also writes occasional CD reviews for the magazine Signal to Noise. Porter was one of five people nominated for a Grammy in 1996 for their role in producing the boxed set of Coltrane's Atlantic Recordings (under Best Historical Reissue). He has performed, primarily as a pianist, with Yoron Israel, Alan Dawson, Jimmy Lyons, Don Friedman, Harvie Swartz, Tom Varner, Hank Roberts, and others. He has spoken and performed at colleges, jazz clubs, and radio stations in the U.S. and Europe. In June 2000 he recorded a CD of his music featuring Dan Faulk, Ken Wessel, Harvie Swartz, Porter, Marcus Baylor, and guest Dave Liebman. The CD should be available to the public in 2001. |
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