Stanley Crouch Gets His Comeuppance Via Sam Rivers (27 years ago)
From some writings on the New York Loft Jazz scene by Eugene Chadbourne:
What some considered the death knell of the loft jazz scene came in the Summer of 1977, which found Sam Rivers and Stanley Crouch organizing festivals scheduled for the same time, on the same street. Rivers noticed that many of the same musicians he was presenting were advertised for Crouch's surprise event, and delivered an ultimatum that anyone participating in Crouch's festival would be cancelled from Rivbea. Since Crouch's was strictly a door-money deal (no guarantees), many musicians bowed out of Crouch's festival. At least one musician opted for Rivbea, not because of the ultimatum, but upon learning of plans to tape his show & possibly make a record (without working out pay for the musicians who'd be recorded). Tensions heightened, and finally climaxed on the streets of Soho when a fight broke out, and Sam Rivers purportedly delivered a "smooth uppercut" to the competition; an event that some believe to be the source of Crouch's dislike of avant-garde jazz.