Martin Williams (writer)

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Martin Tudor Hansford Williams (9 August 1924 – 11 or 12 April 1992)^[1] was an American jazz critic and writer.

He was born in Richmond, Virginia and attended St. Christopher Episcopal Preparatory School. After his military service during World War II including Iwo Jima, he first studied law, then literature at the University of Virginia (BA 1948), at the University of Pennsylvania (MA 1950) and at Columbia University. He became a critic, specializing in jazz and American popular culture. He wrote for Down Beat, magazine, cofounded and coedited The Jazz Review with Nat Hentoff.^[1] Williams authored many books on jazz, summing up his understanding of its history in The Jazz Tradition (1970).

From 1970 to 1981 he directed the Jazz and American Culture programs at the Smithsonian Institution, where he compiled The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz (1973) and (with Gunther Schuller) Big Band Jazz.^[1]

With animation historian Michael Barrier, Williams co-edited A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics (1982).^[2]

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Paula Morgan "Williams, Martin Tudor Hansford" in Barry Kernfeld (ed) The New Dictionary of Jazz, New York & London: Macmillan & St Martin's Press, 1994 [1988], p.1294 & p.xxxii
↑ "Fun, Horror and Adventure", New York Times, 5 September 1982

Persondata
Name	Williams, Martin
Alternative names
Short description	American music critic
Date of birth	9 August 1924
Place of birth
Date of death	April 11 or 12, 1992
Place of death

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