Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Greetings!

I wonder if anyone on this board knows anything about the Chinese-American jazz critic/architect Hsio Wen Shih?

I'm in the process of writing an essay (in Chinese...) on him. I think many people here are probably familiar with his "the Spread of Jazz and the Big Bands," which was written for Hentoff and McCarthy's 1959 "Jazz: New Perspectives On The History Of Jazz By Twelve Of The World's Foremost Jazz Critics And Scholars." During the late 50's and early 60's, he was active as a reviewer, art director and later the publisher of Jazz Review . Besides, he designed the bandstand for the 54' Newport Jazz Festival, wrote liner notes for Sabu Martinez's 1957 album Palo Congo on Blue Note, and was a part of the Termini Brothers' organization and the manager for Ornette Coleman for a while.

Apparently he was also the third husband of harpist Daphne Hellman but walked out of their home one day in 1965 and disappeared. I can't find any evidence of activities of him after a 1966 radio appearance by searching on the internet. I wonder what happened to him...??????

I'm sure Nat Hentoff and Gunther Schuller have much to say about him since they were both editors of Jazz Review but I don't feel like bothering them...for now.

anyone???

Thanks in advance!

Edited by yuja
Link to comment
Share on other sites

well, nothing much about him in the Times, that I could find, but here's some stuff about his wife:

http://select.nytime...n%20Shih&st=cse

http://select.nytime...n%20Shih&st=cse

http://query.nytimes...n%20Shih&st=cse

she may be dead by now - she'd be 99 or so - and all that these say is that he disappeared and played on the subways -

Edited by AllenLowe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

He was my uncle, although he disappeared before I was born.

His wife, Daphne, talks about him a bit in this 1990 New Yorker profile of her: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1990/12/24/1990_12_24_040_TNY_CARDS_000357350.

Thanks! This article is also collected here: http://books.google.com/books?id=i_JD71gsBC0C&pg=PA97&dq=%22hsio+wen+shih%22&hl=en&ei=EuYPTZeCDoK88gao3M2TDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFQQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...