Baruch "Barry"Ulanov (April 10, 1918 – April 30, 2000) was an American writer, perhaps best known as a jazz critic.
Barry Ulanov was born in Manhattan, New York City.[1] He received early instruction on the violin from his father Nathan who wasconcertmaster forArturo Toscanini'sNBC Symphony Orchestra. He ceased playing the instrument after a car crash in which he broke both wrists.[2] He studied atColumbia University taking his BA there in 1939.[3] While at Columbia, he joined theBoar's Head Society[4] and wrote about jazz and also attended jazz concerts, including an early performance of "Strange Fruit" byBillie Holiday at the Café Society.[5]
Soon after graduating he edited several magazines and journals on music. He was editor of the journalMetronome from 1943 to 1955 and increased its coverage of modern jazz music as well as promoting contemporary African American musicians.[6]
Ulanov was an early advocate ofbebop and the music ofCharlie Parker andDizzy Gillespie. In the early 1950s, as part of aMetronome sponsored event, he ran The New Jazz Society which met at a West 54th Street club where Charlie Parker occupied the weekend residency.[7] The jazz pianistLennie Tristano wrote the composition "Coolin' Off With Ulanov", a personal testament to the affinity that many jazz musicians had with Ulanov. He organized several concerts of bop stars forWOR radio in 1947. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia in the 1950s. From 1955 to 1958, he wrote forDownBeat, and published several biographies of jazz musicians in the 1940s and 1950s. In his autobiographyMiles Davis referred to Ulanov as the only white critic who ever understood him or Charlie Parker. He taught atJuilliard (1946),Princeton (1950–51), andBarnard College (1951–1988) as well as at Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary. In 1962 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Ulanov converted toCatholicism in 1951 and was one of the sponsors at the baptism of the jazz pianist and composerMary Lou Williams in 1957.[8] After his conversion, he began to write more on the subjects ofreligion andpsychology. He was the president of theCatholic Renascence Society and founder of a St. Thomas More Society; he and his wife, Joan Bel Geddes (daughter ofNorman Bel Geddes), translated many essays and books on Catholicism. He advocated the use of amplified music in church, includingrock music.[citation needed] He promoted the idea that the entertainment media should be more Christian in nature, taking to task the movies, music, plays, and particularly comic books (which he called the worst product of the press) in the 1950s.[9]
In the last twenty years of his life, Ulanov concentrated on explorations of religion and psychology, and published over 10 books with his second wife,Ann Belford Ulanov, Professor of Psychiatry and Religion atUnion Theological Seminary in New York and psychoanalyst in private practice.
Barry Ulanov died of colorectal cancer on April 30, 2000, aged 82.[10] The Annual Barry Ulanov Memorial Lecture Series is held each year at the Union Theological Seminary.[11]
June Jordan, the poet, author, and activist, was a student of Ulanov's at Barnard College. In an essay that appeared in her bookCivil Wars, Jordan described with nostalgic admiration a surprise in-class exam administered by Ulanov. Ulanov told the students to write about anything they wanted without using any form of the verbsto be orto have. Jordan went on to say how difficult yet worthwhile the exam was.
with Joan Bel Geddes:
with Ann Belford Ulanov:
other:
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