Stanley Crouch Wiki – Stanley Crouch Biography
Stanley Crouch was an American poet, music and cultural critic, columnist, novelist, and biographer. He was best known for his jazz criticism and his 2000 novel Don’t the Moon Look Lonesome?
Crouch was the author of eight critically acclaimed books, including one novel, as well as hundreds of uncollected articles, essays, album liner notes, and reviews. His first essay collection, Notes of a Hanging Judge (1989), was widely debated in its day and established him as a critic to be reckoned with. His extensive writings on jazz-influenced the direction of the music while also expanding the audience for it among the general public. He co-founded Jazz at Lincoln Center and served as an artistic consultant, playing an integral role in the institution’s repertoire and often writing notes and essays for concert programs. Crouch’s acclaimed biography, Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker, was published to great acclaim in 2013.
Born on December 14, 1945, in Los Angeles, California, Stanley Crouch was raised in a single-parent household. His mother had roots in East Texas. As an often-sickly child with severe asthma, he immersed himself in books and old movies. Becoming interested in jazz and poetry, he taught himself to play the drums. In 1968, he was named a poet-in-residence at Pitzer, one of the Claremont Colleges, where he would also go on to teach, before teaching literature at Pomona College, without a degree. He also led Black Music Infinity, an avant-garde jazz group that included future jazz luminaries David Murray, Arthur Blythe, James Newton, and Mark Dresser. His poems were published in the Evergreen Review and Harper’s magazine, and he published a collection of poetry in 1972.
In 1975, Crouch moved to Manhattan to focus on writing, and soon became a busy freelancer, giving up performing as a musician when his writing career took off. By the late ‘70s, he was writing steadily for the Village Voice and later for the New Republic, covering music and literature with energy and intensity. His musical focus shifted from the avant-garde he played in the 1970s to a more roots-based jazz championed by musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, for whom Crouch became a longtime mentor.
Many will remember him from his lively column in the New York Daily News, in which he commented on race, culture, and local issues from 1995 to 2014. Crouch appeared frequently on television as a commentator, was a consistent guest on The Charlie Rose Show, had a short stint on 60 Minutes, and in 2001 was one of the prominent jazz scholars featured in Ken Burns’ epic 10-part television documentary Jazz. He appeared in many other documentaries as well, working with Burns and others. Ever the non-ideological and unpredictable thinker, his advice was sought in an official capacity by the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.
In 2000, Crouch served as a visiting professor at Columbia University in New York City. For much of the last decade of his life, he served as president of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, which supports music education. Crouch was awarded honorary doctorates from Hofstra University and Manhattan College, and received a Guggenheim Fellowship (1982), Whiting Award (1991), MacArthur Fellowship (1993), and Fletcher Foundation Fellowship (2005). In 2016, Crouch was awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize for nonfiction from Yale University, and more recently, he received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation Award (2019) and the Jazz Journalists Association (2020), and was named a National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master in 2019.
Stanley Crouch Age
He was born on December 14, 1945, in Los Angeles, California, United States. He died on September 16, 2020, in New York City, New York. He was 74 years old.
Wife
Stanley Crouch married his wife Gloria Nixon-Crouch, a sculptor, in 1994. They lived in the West Village in Manhattan until recently, when they moved to Brooklyn.
Daughter
Stanley Crouch had a daughter, Gaia Scott-Crouch from an earlier marriage.
Family
He is survived by his wife, Gloria Nixon-Crouch, his daughter from an earlier marriage, Gaia Scott-Crouch, and a granddaughter, Emma Flynn White.
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Stanley Crouch Death
Crouch died at the Calvary Hospital in New York on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, at the age of 74, following nearly a decade of serious health issues. Stanley Crouch’s wife, Gloria Nixon-Crouch, announced the news, according to NPR.
Louis Armstrong House Museum paid tribute to Crouch in the following statement: “The Louis Armstrong House Museum is saddened to hear of the passing of longtime Louis Armstrong Foundation President Stanley Crouch, a tireless advocate for the greatness of Louis Armstrong, the musician and the man. The following comes from Stanley’s widow, Gloria Nixon-Crouch; all of us at the Louis Armstrong House Museum send our deepest condolences to Gloria and the rest of Stanley Crouch’s family. He will be greatly missed.”
Cause of Death
Stanley Crouch’s cause of death was not revealed. He struggled with serious health issues for nearly a decade and contracted COVID-19 in spring 2020.
Net Worth
Stanley Crouch’s net worth was estimated to be $5 million.