REVIEWS

1 9 7 7  (51)
1 9 7 6  (40)
1 9 7 5  (37)

ARTICLES

Miles Davis
Ray Charles
Benny Goodman
Branford Marsalis
New Jazz Purists

About Chris

Born in Reykjavk, Iceland, of Danish and Icelandic parents, Chris Albertson studied art in Copenhagen. In the late Forties, while working as a commercial artist, he happened across a Bessie Smith recording on the Danish radio and was so taken by her music that he began an intense study of jazz. This led to his involvement in the Danish jazz scene of the early Fifties, recording material for the Storyville label, and broadcasting on the Danish radio. In 1954, he went to Iceland and worked for the U.S. Armed Forces Radio as a disc jockey while waiting on his visa. In 1957, he immigrated to the U.S. and—after a year as producer for WCAU--became a jazz dj on WHAT-FM, in Philadelphia. In October, 1960, Chris returned to New York as producer/liner note writer for Riverside Records, then moved on to Prestige the following year. Among artists who sessions he supervised are Lonnie Johnson, Earl Hines, Lovie Austin, Lil Armstrong, Elmer Snowden, Alberta Hunter, Bud Freeman, Roy Eldridge, and Howard McGhee, but he is proudest of his New Orleans: The Living Legend series of Riverside albums made in New Orleans in 1961. In the early Sixties, he returned to radio as General Manager of New York’s Pacifica station, WBAI. He has been a freelance writer and record producer since 1967.

Chris has contributed articles and chapters to numerous magazines and books, including Down Beat and MacWeek (reflecting his other passion: Macintosh), A Miles Davis Reader (Smithsonian Press), Bluesland (Dutton), and Jazz: A Listener’s Companion (Oxford University Press). He was a contributing editor to Stereo Review from 1972 to 1999. His awards include two Grammys, Billboard magazine’s Trendsetter Award, the Montreaux Jazz Festival’s Grand Prix du Disque, and Living Blues magazine’s Critics Award. He is currently rewriting and expanding Bessie, his 1972 biography of blues singer Bessie Smith.