Jason King (journalist)

Musician and author Jason King in New York, 2012.

Jason King is a Canadian singer, songwriter, producer, entrepreneur, scholar, author and music journalist for publications such as the Village Voice, Spin, Vibe and Slate. He has been described (by BlogCritics) as an "industry force" and an internationally recognized expert on pop music, especially R&B and Hip-Hop styles. He is the founder and producer of international dance music collective Company Freak, and is a regular contributor to NPR, where he is the host and curator of NPRandB, a 24/7 streaming radio channel devoted to R&B and soul music.

King was the inaugural and founding full-time faculty member of The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University and acted as Associate Chair and Artistic Director. He continues to teach classes in branding, marketing, music history, emergent media and technology. He is currently Director of the Clive Davis Institute's Writing, History & Emergent Media wing and has been instrumental in developing its innovative music journalism and technology curriculum; an October 18, 2012 New York Times article interviews King and discusses musician Ahmir Questlove Thompson's role as an instructor in the program. As noted in a December 2013 interview with Justin Kantor on BlogCritics.Org, he also teaches approaches to recording and producing global music at New York University's campuses in Singapore and in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

As the Director of The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, King produced many prominent events. In February 2005, at NYU, he produced a groundbreaking tribute conference to hip-hop group Public Enemy called The Making of Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions.[1] The large-scale event was covered extensively in the mainstream press. It featured Chuck D, Fab 5 Freddy, producer Hank Shocklee, Daddy-O of Stetsasonic, Vernon Reid, and Will Calhoun of the rock group Living Colour, photographer Glen E. Friedman, journalists including Robert Christgau, Greg Tate, and Armond White.

That same year, King produced a tribute to Roc-a-Fella Records featuring hip-hop CEO Damon Dash[1] with performances by Def Jam artists Nicole Wray and Rell.

According to The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music website, King was also one of the organizers of the conference Sylvester: The Life and Work of a Musical Icon, on disco artist Sylvester, which included performers such as Grammy Award winner Martha Wash of C&C Music Factory and Billboard dance artist Kevin Aviance[1] with scholars and journalists like Jim Fouratt, Barry Walters of Rolling Stone, and Joshua Gamson (who wrote the popular biography entitled The Fabulous Sylvester).

He also produced the 2012 Experience Music Project "EMP" Pop Conference, featuring a keynote plenary by alternative soul artist Santigold, jazz virtuoso Esperanza Spalding, hip-hop MC Himanshu Suri, and global pop recording artist Angelique Kidjo.

King's June 2003 Village Voice essay on the down-low phenomenon in black communities is considered by some a pioneering and early piece of writing on the subject. His October 2009 book The Michael Jackson Treasures: Celebrating the King of Pop in Memorabilia and Photos, published by Barnes and Noble's Fall River Press, was one of the first full-length written biographies published about the pop superstar in the aftermath of his death in June of that year. He is a featured member of the cast of director Spike Lee's 2013 full-length feature film documentary Bad 25 (film), on the making of Michael Jackson's classic 1987 album Bad.

According to a fashion profile of King in the Summer 2012 edition of UK men's style magazine Jocks & Nerds, King was music manager for Indian pop recording artist Asha Puthli and for electronic music artist Jimmy Edgar and R&B-gospel Internet sensations The Craig Lewis Band via his entertainment company Superlatude. He has co-written and co-produced songs with electronic soul artist Selan and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest. The magazine also notes that he has been recruited as a music marketing and branding expert in high profile legal cases on behalf of pop superstars like Jay-Z, Madonna and Lady Gaga and that his orchestral disco band, Company Freak, featuring Asha Puthli and Broadway singer Vivian Reed is scheduled for widespread release. According to Publishers' Marketplace, he is currently writing a biography of rock star Freddie Mercury. . He lives in New York.

References and sources

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Jason King, Artistic Director, Recorded Music; Associate Professor on the site of the Tisch School. Accessed 2009-04-25.