Leonard Feather Jazz Collection
- Title:
- Leonard Feather Jazz Collection
- Description:
- Leonard Feather was a British journalist, jazz critic, producer, composer, and pianist. The collection contains his personal papers.
- Biography:
- Leonard Geoffrey Feather was born in Hampstead, London, in 1914. He relocated to New York City in 1939. Journalist, producer, and composer, Mr. Feather is best known as a jazz critic. He wrote several books about jazz, including Inside Be-Bop (1949), the Encyclopedia of Jazz (1960), and the Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz, co-written with Ira Gitler, which was published posthumously, in 1999. His compositions include songs such as "Evil Gal Blues," "Blowtop Blues," "Mighty Like the Blues," and "How Blue Can You Get." Leonard created the "Blindfold Test" for Metronome magazine and later for DownBeat magazine. The test also became a segment of Feather's radio show "Platterbrains." It consisted of artists listening to a recording, without knowledge of the performer and then offering an opinion, this process often resulting in surprising results. He moved to Los Angeles in 1960 and critiqued jazz for the Los Angeles Times until his death. Mr. Feather died in Sherman Oaks, California, in 1994.
- Digital Collection:
- https://www.ijc.uidaho.edu/feather_leonard/
- Finding Aid:
- https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv98547
- Archival Extent:
- 129 cubic feet
- Digitized Items:
- 614