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S. Duncan Reid

Mr. Reid has had lifelong passion for jazz and is the author of "Cal Tjader: The Life and Recordings of the Man Who Revolutionized Latin Jazz"

About Me

S. Duncan Reid was born and raised in San Francisco. As a youth, he studied the tabla, a set of drums used in North Indian classical music, from Shankar Ghosh at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, CA. He was exposed to jazz from an early age by his parents. In the bohemian subculture of St. Louis, his father knew many jazz legends of the 1940s and '50s, such as Lester Young, Charlie Ventura, Miles Davis, Stan Getz and Tiny Kahn. At the same time, his mother was ensconced in the Seattle jazz scene and soon discovered Cal Tjader. When he came of age, Mr. Reid began a lifelong passion for jazz and was honored to have backstage discussions with jazz immortals Gerry Mulligan, Zoot Sims, Shelly Manne, Jimmy Witherspoon and Stan Getz. After studying literature and immersing himself in the Bay Area jazz scene, Mr. Reid became a music critic for the Thirteenth Moon (1994-1996). He has also written for Wax Poetics (2011).