Gary Giddins

Biography

Gary Giddins is an American jazz critic and author born in 1948. He co-founded the American Jazz Orchestra with John Lewis in 1986 and served as executive director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York from 1998 to 2003. His book "Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker" won widespread critical acclaim, while his "Weather Bird" column was featured in The Village Voice from 1973 until its conclusion in 2003.