Crouch reflects on late Ellington

[Christiern]

Stanley's an intelligent guy but can't write to save his life -

I used to be of that opinion, but how intelligent is it to do/write/behave in such a manner that few have a good word to say about him or his work? If there is intelligence behind the bad prose, why is it so well hidden?

[AllenLowe]

well, I should add - he is intelligeent - but also dishonest and completely lacking in principle -

[Alexander]

Saw the header "late Ellington" and thought he'd be talking about the time after Strayhorn died. Imagine my surprise in finding that "late Ellington" begins in 1943.

That threw me too.

[AllenLowe]

I thought that by "late Ellington" he meant music he wrote after his death -

[Christiern]

I thought that by "late Ellington" he meant music he wrote after his death -

Yes, channeling through Wynton. No wonder "Big Train" and Blood on the Fields" tuned out to be such masterpieces.

[Jazzmoose]

Nevertheless, the fact the we all read what he writes (and this thread is the best example) speaks for itself.

Well...I watch Ed Wood movies, too, but I don't confuse them with the good stuff, you know?

[DrJ]

He may or may not be intelligent - I don't purport to know him personally - but I definitely don't think Crouch writes well, at all.

He is as I said a pompous windbag, throwing around a lot of important sounding words that ultimately mean nothing. He also writes the same essay over and over again...no matter the context or subject at hand, he will slip in at least one Ellington reference, at least one sideswipe some element of popular culture of which he disapproves, one comment on racism (again an important topic as are all these, but one that I refuse to see as pertinent to every single situation one is charged with writing about), and a gratuitious ass kiss of one of his favored artists - and I'm not talking about the one he's writing the liner notes for.

Check it out for yourself, see if I'm not right on target here. Formula writing 101.

As to the question someone asked earlier, basically "if he's so bad why are people asking him to write liners?" Well, I would assert nobody really is anymore. There was a time in the 80s when he was quite in vogue, not only for Wynton's albums but also for Blue Note and others. But that was a long time ago. At least for newer music I check out, I haven't seen his name on a single liner note essay in years.

I would imagine people caught on to the fact that he was essentially turning in the same tired stuff over and over again, just changing a couple of names and tune titles.

The Crouch essays that are in the Pullen box I was mentioning above are reproduced from the original CDs, not newly comissioned. Nobody cares anymore, Stanley.