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Dirk Sutro

Author of Jazz for Dummies, former host of

About Me

A high school friend introduced me to playing jazz (I was a drummer) and sussing live jazz. We heard Miles Davis at the U.C. Berkeley Jazz Festival; Miles, Dexter Gordon, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, McCoy Tyner, Bobby Hutcherson and man others at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco; and Anthony Braxton and Oliver Lake at small local clubs. I wrote a weekly jazz column and reviews for the San Diego edition of the L.A. Times from 1988 to 1992; authored the first version of Jazz for Dummies in 1998 (the second version was released in 2006). I like all kinds of music, from jazz to classical, rock, Indian, and 'new music' (Cage, Xenakis, and others). I am the publicity person for the Department of Music at U.C. San Diego, where our faculty includes Anthony Davis and Pulitzer composer Roger Reynolds. I also write about design and architecture, including two books: West Coast Wave: New California Houses, and From Missions to Modern (a guide to San Diego Architecture). I live in Encinitas, CA, with my wife Sally, and two daughters (with my first wife Berta).