Mike Zwerin

Mike Zwerin (May 18, 1930 – April 2, 2010) Additionally, Zwerin also worked with Maynard Ferguson, Claude Thornhill, Archie Shepp and Bill Russo, among many others.

After a period as jazz critic of New York's Village Voice (1964–69), he was the publication's European editor (1969–71). Zwerin was also the Paris-based jazz critic for the International Herald Tribune for 21 years, then later for Bloomberg News.

Mike Zwerin died at the age of 79 in Paris on April 2, 2010. Zwerin studied at the High School of Music and Art, and began leading bands in his teens, in which he employed several up-and-coming musicians.

Musical career Zwerin was spotted by Miles Davis at Minton's in Harlem, while sitting in with Art Blakey. but charges against Zwerin and the other journalists were later dropped due to lack of evidence.

Zwerin also wrote several books about his own life in the world of jazz, most notably Close Enough for Jazz and The Parisian Jazz Chronicles: An Improvisational Memoir. The most ambitious of his books may be La Tristesse de Saint Louis: Swing Under the Nazis (1985). It included the story of the Kille Dillers and the Ghetto Swingers, two bands that played in concentration camps. He also translated the jazz writings of Boris Vian (Round About Close to Midnight, 1988), who was, like Zwerin, both writer and musician.

In his 1969 book, The Silent Sound of Needles, Zwerin wrote about his struggles with drug addiction. Using drugs was "part of the ethic of what I thought was being hip, which was really stupid," he said in a 2005 interview with Bloomberg News. "When you're that age, you're immortal."

Disappointment with the reception of his books led him to stick to journalism. He spent two years researching La Tristesse de Saint Louis: Swing Under the Nazis (1985). He traveled across France, Austria, Poland, and Germany to interview survivors and analyze how jazz was banned by the Nazi government as "degenerate music" Zwerin issued an expanded version of La Tristesse de Saint Louis as Swing Under the Nazis in 2000.

Discography As leader Not Much Noise (Spotlite, 1979)

As sideman Tony Allen, Afrobeat Express (Cobalt, 1989) Miles Davis, Pre-Birth of the Cool (Durium, 1974) Miles Davis, The Complete Birth of the Cool (Capitol, 1998) Maynard Ferguson, Newport Suite (Columbia, 1960) George Gruntz, For Flying Out Proud (MPS, 1978) George Gruntz, GG-CJB (MPS, 1979) Alexis Korner, The Party Album (Intercord, 1979) Alexis Korner, Alexis Korner and Friends (Amiga, 1981) John Lewis, Essence (Atlantic, 1962) Charles Mingus, Live at the Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt Paris Vol. 1 (Soul Note, 1989) Charles Mingus, Live at the Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt Paris Vol. 2 (Soul Note, 1993) Michel Petrucciani, Flash (Bingow, 1980) Bill Russo, Seven Deadly Sins (Roulette, 1960) Archie Shepp, The Magic of Ju-Ju (Impulse!, 1967) Alan Silva, The Shout: Portrait for a Small Woman (Sun, 1979) Alan Silva, Desert Mirage (I.A.C.P ,1982) Sugar Blue, Cross Roads (Blue Sound, 1979) Sugar Blue, From Paris to Chicago (EPM Musique, 1988)