People should not feel intimidated by received wisdom. You have to discover it yourself. If I tell you that Armstrong is great, it's meaningless; you have to hear it. — Gary Giddins Copy Share Image
Even my colleagues don't read classic criticism. And my feeling is that if you don't do that then you're not really practicing your craft.… — Gary Giddins Copy Share
I'm a critic. That means you are a writer. So, yes, you have to make yourself an authority on whatever subject it's going to… — Gary Giddins Copy Share
You're writing for some version of yourself. You're writing the kinds of things that you like to read or wanted to read at a… — Gary Giddins Copy Share
One of the things I always underscore when I teach criticism is that young critics, or would be critics, frequently have this illusion that… — Gary Giddins Copy Share
Writing style is something is a consequence of who you are. I think that I had a certain propensity for a style that I… — Gary Giddins Copy Share
I think all of us begin as writers. I wanted to be a writer from the time I as eight, long before I heard… — Gary Giddins Copy Share
People should not feel intimidated by received wisdom. You have to discover it yourself. If I tell you that Armstrong is great, it's meaningless;… — Gary Giddins Copy Share
I hate the idea of turning jazz into homework assignments. I would never have a quiz saying, "Who's the clarinetist on the Hot Five?"… — Gary Giddins Copy Share
Jazz is for joy. It's for euphoria, it's for emotion, and anguish, and excitement, and all of the joys that great art can produce,… — Gary Giddins Copy Share
Bing Crosby said that Armstrong is "the beginning and the end of music in America," and he wasn't far wrong. — Gary Giddins Copy Share
Nobody knows where jazz is going, because nobody has ever known where jazz was going. I mean, you couldn't possibly predict the Swing Era… — Gary Giddins Copy Share
When I teach criticism, the first thing I say, and this sometimes pisses off younger - I mean, students, is that, opinions are the… — Gary Giddins Copy Share
If you're genuinely candid and expressive then you're never wrong, even when you are wrong. — Gary Giddins Copy Share
