Scott Yanow

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Scott Yanow (born 4 October 1954 in New York) is an American jazz commentator. Growing up near Los Angeles he wanted to be a jazz journalist early, discovering Dixieland in the Danny Kaye movie The Five Pennies and on a daily radio show while in high school. He soon broadened his tastes to the swing idiom and college opened his mind further. "One day at a used record store, I ran across a $1.99 Charlie Parker LP that, among other songs, included "White Christmas". I had never heard of "Groovin’ High" or "A Night in Tunisia", but at least I had heard of "White Christmas"! Playing the album two or three times each day for a week opened my ears and I became quite anxious to learn about all eras of jazz. That desire has still not been fully satisfied.^[1]”

Shortly after graduating from college, Yanow became the jazz editor for Record Review, being a major participant in all 33 of its issues. Since Record Review closed up shop in June 1984, Yanow has written for many jazz magazines and arts magazines. In recent times, Yanow was interviewed on-camera by CNN about the Monterey Jazz Festival and by Arts & Entertainment for their televised American Masters biography on Dizzy Gillespie.

Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the second edition of the All Music Guide To Jazz. He contributed thousands of additional CD reviews to the third edition, becoming sole editor. He is one of the most prolific jazz record reviewers in history. He continues to contribute to the All Music Guide website.

In addition to his work for the All Music Guide To Jazz, Yanow has written nine books on jazz: Jazz On Film, Duke Ellington, Swing, Bebop, Afro-Cuban Jazz, Trumpet Kings, Classic Jazz, Jazz: A Regional Exploration and Jazz On Record 1917-76.

Yanow has penned over 500 liner notes for many record labels. He has also written artist biographies and press releases for record labels, public relations firms and individual artists.

Yanow produced a series CDs for Allegro, worked as a consultant to other labels about their reissue projects, hosted a regular radio show (Jazz After Hours) for KCSN-FM and worked as the jazz listings editor for the Los Angeles Times.