Stanley Crouch | |
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| Born | Stanley Lawrence Crouch (1945-12-14)December 14, 1945 Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Died | September 16, 2020(2020-09-16) (aged 74) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupations |
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| Notable work | Don't the Moon Look Lonesome? (2000 novel) |
| Awards | MacArthur Fellowship (1993) Windham–Campbell Literature Prize (2016) |
Stanley Lawrence Crouch (December 14, 1945 – September 16, 2020)[1] was an American cultural critic, poet, playwright, novelist, biographer, and syndicated columnist.[2] He was known for hisjazz criticism and his 2000 novelDon't the Moon Look Lonesome?
Amongst numerous awards and honors, Crouch was the recipient of a "MacArthur Genius Grant" from theJohn D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 1993.[3]
Stanley Lawrence Crouch was born in Los Angeles, the son of James and Emma Bea (Ford) Crouch.[4][5] He was raised by his mother. InKen Burns' 2005 television documentaryUnforgivable Blackness, Crouch said that his father was a "criminal" and that he once met the boxerJack Johnson. As a child he was a voracious reader, having read the complete works ofErnest Hemingway,Mark Twain,F. Scott Fitzgerald, and many of the other classics of American literature by the time he finished high school. His mother told him of the experiences of her youth ineast Texas and the black culture of the southernmidwest, including theKansas City jazz scene. He became an enthusiast for jazz in both the aesthetic and historical senses. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles in 1963. After high school, he attended junior colleges and became active in thecivil rights movement, working for theStudent Nonviolent Co-ordinating Committee. He was also involved in artistic and educational projects centered on the African-American community of Los Angeles, soon gaining recognition for his poetry. In 1968, he became poet-in-residence atPitzer College, then taught theatre and literature atPomona College until 1975. TheWatts riots were a pivotal event in his early development as a thinker on racial issues. A quote from the rioting, "Ain't no ambulances for no nigguhs tonight", was used as a title for a polemical speech that advocated black nationalist ideas, released as a recording in 1969;[6] it was also used for a 1972 collection of his poems.
Crouch was then active as a jazz drummer. Together withDavid Murray, he formed the group Black Music Infinity. In 1975, he sought to further his endeavors with a move from California to New York City, where he shared a loft with Murray above anEast Village club called theTin Palace. He was a drummer for Murray and with other musicians of the underground New Yorkloft jazz scene. While working as a drummer, Crouch conducted the booking for anavant-garde jazz series at the club, as well as organizing occasional concert events at theLadies' Fort. By his own admission he was not a good drummer, saying "The problem was that I couldn't really play. Since I was doing this avant-garde stuff, I didn't have to be all that good, but I was a real knucklehead."[7]
Crouch befriendedRalph Ellison andAlbert Murray, who influenced his thinking in a direction less centered on race. He stated with regard to Murray's influence, "I saw how important it is to free yourself from ideology. When you look at things solely in terms of race or class, you miss what is really going on."[7] He made a final, public break with black nationalist ideology in 1979, in an exchange withAmiri Baraka in theVillage Voice. He was also emerging as a public critic of recent cultural and artistic trends that he saw as empty, phony, or corrupt. His targets included the fusion and avant-garde movements in jazz (including his own participation in the latter) and literature that he saw as hiding their lack of merit behind racial posturing. As a writer for theVoice from 1980 to 1988, he was known for his blunt criticisms of his targets and tendency to excoriate their participants. It was during this period that he became a friend and intellectual mentor toWynton Marsalis, and an advocate of theneotraditionalist movement that he saw as reviving the core values of jazz.[7] In 1987, he became an artistic consultant for theJazz at Lincoln Center program, joined by Marsalis, who later became artistic director, in 1991.
After his stint at theVoice, Crouch publishedNotes of a Hanging Judge: Essays and Reviews, 1979–1989, which was selected byTheEncyclopædia Britannica Yearbook as the best book of essays published in 1990.[8] That was followed by receipt of aWhiting Award in 1991, and aMacArthur Foundation"genius" grant and the Jean Stein Award from theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters in 1993.
Crouch continued to be an active author, producing works of fiction and nonfiction, articles for periodicals and newspaper columns. He was a columnist for theNew York Daily News and a syndicated columnist. He also participated as a source in documentaries and as a guest in televised discussions. During the 2000s he was a featured commentator onKen Burns' Jazz (2001) andUnforgivable Blackness (2005), on the life of the boxerJack Johnson. He also published the novelDon't The Moon Look Lonesome? (2000), a collection of his reviews and writings on jazz,Considering Genius (2007), and a biography of the jazz musicianCharlie Parker,Kansas City Lightning (2013). His posthumous collectionVictory Is Assured (2022) was edited by Glenn Mott.
Crouch became less of a public figure due to declining health during his last decade. He died on September 16, 2020, atCalvary Hospital in New York City.[9] The cause of death was a "long, unspecified illness," though he also struggled with a bout ofCOVID-19 in the spring.[10] He was 74.
Crouch's personal and professional papers are held by theSchomburg Center for Research in Black Culture,New York Public Library.[11]
Crouch lived inCarroll Gardens, Brooklyn.[12]
As a political thinker, Crouch was initially drawn to, then became disillusioned with, theBlack Power movement of the late 1960s. His critiques of his former co-thinkers, whom he refers to as a "lost generation", are collected inNotes of a Hanging Judge: Essays and Reviews, 1979–1989 andThe All-American Skin Game, or, The Decoy of Race: The Long and the Short of It, 1990–1994. He identified the embrace of racial essentialism among African-American[nb 1] leaders and intellectuals as a diversion from issues more central to the betterment of African Americans and society as a whole. In the 1990s, he upset many political thinkers when he declared himself a "radical pragmatist".[14] He explained, "I affirm whatever I think has the best chance of working, of being both inspirational and unsentimental, of reasoning across the categories of false division and beyond the decoy of race".[15]
In his syndicated column for theNew York Daily News, Crouch frequently criticized prominent African Americans.[nb 1] Crouch was critical of, among others:Alex Haley, the author ofThe Autobiography of Malcolm X andRoots: The Saga of an American Family;[16] community leaderAl Sharpton;[17] filmmakerSpike Lee;[18] scholarCornel West,[19] and poet and playwrightAmiri Baraka.[20]
Crouch was also a fierce critic ofgangsta rap music, asserting that it promotes violence, criminal lifestyles, and degrading attitudes toward women.[21] With this viewpoint, he defendedBill Cosby's "Pound Cake Speech"[22] and praised a women's group atSpelman College for speaking out against rap music.[23][7] With regard to rapperTupac Shakur he wrote, "what dredged-up scum you are willing to pay for is what scum you get, on or off stage."[24]
From the late 1970s, Crouch was critical of forms of jazz that diverge from what he regarded as its essential core values, similar to the opinions ofAlbert Murray on the same topic. In jazz critic Alex Henderson's assessment, Crouch was a "rigid jazz purist" and "a blistering critic ofavant-garde jazz andfusion".[25] Crouch commented: "We should laugh at those who make artistic claims for fusion."[26]
InThe New Yorker Robert Boynton wrote: "Enthusiastic, combative, and never averse to attention, Crouch has a virtually insatiable appetite for controversy."[7] Boynton also observed: "Few cultural critics have a vision as eclectic and intriguing as Stanley Crouch's. Fewer still actually fight to prove their points."[7] Crouch was fired fromJazzTimes following his controversial article "Putting the White Man in Charge" in which he stated that, since the 1960s, "white musicians who can play are too frequently elevated far beyond their abilities in order to allow white writers to make themselves feel more comfortable about being in the role of evaluating an art from which they feel substantially alienated."[27]
TrumpeterWynton Marsalis called Crouch "my best friend in the world" and "mentor".[28] The two met after Marsalis, at the age of 17, settled in New York City to attend theJuilliard School.[28] The two shared a close relationship,[28] Crouch having writtenliner notes for Marsalis' albums since his debut album in 1982.[29]
When Marsalis served as "Senior Creative Consultant" forKen Burns' 2001 documentaryJazz, Crouch served on the film's advisory board and appears extensively.[30] Some jazz critics and aficionados cited the participation of Marsalis and Crouch specifically as reasons for what they believed to be the film's undue focus ontraditional andstraight-ahead jazz.[31]
AfterJazz, Crouch appeared in other Burns films, including the DVD for the 2002 remastered version ofThe Civil War and the 2004 documentaryUnforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson.[32]
| Victory Is Assured: Uncollected Writings |
| Considering Genius: Writings on Jazz |
| Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker |
| The Artificial White Man: Essays on Authenticity |
| Always in Pursuit: Fresh American Perspectives, 1995-1997 |
| The All-American Skin Game, or, The Decoy of Race: The Long and the Short of It, 1990–1994 |
| Notes of a Hanging Judge: Essays and Reviews, 1979–1989 |
| Reconsidering the Souls of Black Folk, with Playthell G. Benjamin |
| One Shot Harris: The Photographs of Charles "Teenie" Harris |
| Don't the Moon Look Lonesome? (2000) |
| Ain't No Ambulances for No Nigguhs Tonight (1972) |
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