Biography of Lewis Porter

Lewis Porter (PhD, Brandeis, 1983) is Professor of Music at Rutgers University in Newark, and founder and director of the Master's in Jazz History and Research there since Fall 1997. A leading jazz scholar, he has dedicated his career to raising the standards of jazz scholarship, and to mentoring young scholars worldwide and in his Master's program. He is the author of five books and numerous articles on jazz, an assisting author of the definitive Coltrane discography, and a consultant to record producers, publishers, and producers of jazz radio shows and films. His first book, Lester Young, will be reprinted in 2003 by the University of Michigan Press, with an added photo section. He edited A Lester Young Reader, coauthored Porter/Ullman/Hazell, Jazz: From Its Origins to the Present (Prentice-Hall,1992), compiled an anthology of historical articles and his own essays (Jazz: A Century of Change, Schirmer Books, 1997), and published the acclaimed study John Coltrane: His Life and Music (University of Michigan Press, Jan. 1998). The latter book won the 1999 Jazz Research Award from the Association of Recorded Sound Collections. In 2002 he was appointed editor for a series of books on jazz for the University of Michigan press. He is currently compiling a jazz encyclopedia for Routledge. He was nominated for a Grammy in 1996 (under Best Historical Reissue)for his role in producing the boxed set of Coltrane's Atlantic Recordings. He has performed extensively, primarily as a pianist. In April 2002, Altrisuoni (www.altrisuoni.com) released a CD of his music, entitled Second Voyage, featuring Dan Faulk, Ken Wessel, Harvie S (formerly Harvie Swartz), Porter, Marcus Baylor, and guest Dave Liebman.