One of the things I always underscore when I teach criticism is that young critics, or would be critics, frequently have this illusion that if they write about music they're somehow part of music, or if they write about movies… — Gary Giddins Copy Share Image
I can't get very excited about a musician who can do Art Tatum because I've got the Art Tatum records. I want to hear him take that and do something that hasn't been done. And there's enough of that going… — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
