Leonard Feather’s Touch

Reflecting on the legacy of Leonard Feather’s Blindfold Tests and his Before & After columns.

After reading Ethan Iverson’s post in his always engaging Transitional Technology Substack about the rich material in Leonard Feather’s archival Blindfold Tests, I felt inspired to reflect on Leonard’s history with JazzTimes, as well as the legacy of his original concept for the column. (I did run this by Ethan, so as not to glom onto his work, and he gave me his blessing.)

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Leonard Feather developed the Blindfold Test back in 1947 for Metronome magazine, a jazz and big band publication of the 40s. The premise of the column was not so much to trick or embarrass musicians as is commonly thought, but to show that jazz musicians were not primitives or idiot savants, a common notion during that time. Among his very first subjects were Mary Lou Williams, Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins and Dizzy Gillespie, and, yes, back in the day he actually blindfolded them during the session. He also used the column to address racism and sexism, simply by showing that artists couldn’t accurately identify the race or sex of the player by listening. In the 90s, we managed to get rights to rerun some of those Metronome columns in JazzTimes. They’re not as expansive as the more contemporary version, but the historical value of the subjects trumped the brevity of the pieces.

When Metronome folded, he took the column to DownBeat where it remained for many years. His long tenure there with the column solidified its legacy. It might be easier to list the artists he didn’t feature than those he did, because he talked with just about every major figure in jazz while writing for DownBeat.

In 1989 Leonard brought the column over to JazzTimes (he had been contributing to JT since the mid-70s), where he adapted it to include the comments of the subject after learning the details and the selection. He renamed it Before & After, but the basic premise remained the same. DownBeat, of course, has continued to run the trademarked column, in recent years as a back page feature. I’m guessing that it continues to be one of the most popular features in that magazine. But Frank Alkyer could verify that.

Leonard was truly a friend to JazzTimes beyond his regular contributions of features and reviews. In the days before emails when messages would arrive by mail, Leonard would include a letter containing all kinds of requests, as well as a concise critique of the lasts issue. When I first came to JazzTimes in 1990, I was initially taken aback by his often blunt feedback, but I soon realized how lucky we were that he took the magazine so seriously. Indeed, it was Leonard who suggested the Ira Sabin change the publication name from the non-sequitur Radio Free Jazz to the more straight-forward JazzTimes back in 1979 and he was an important participant at many JazzTimes Conventions. When Leonard died in 1994, both the magazine and the jazz community lost one of its most passionate supporters.

Leonard’s m.o. with the column was to elicit candid feedback from artists about the music of their peers and thereby themselves. Although he naturally leaned towards mainstream artists as subjects, Leonard loved to throw his subjects the occasional curve in the form of an avant garde selection. A favorite breaking ball of his was Sun Ra, which never failed to evoke a strong and impassioned response. Artie Shaw simply said, “Messy” after hearing Sun Ra play “But Not for Me.” Over the years, JazzTimes continued Leonard’s legacy with a rotating cast of contributors such as Larry Appelbaum, Ashley Kahn , Thomas Conrad and David R. Adler. The column was always a favorite of JazzTimes readers as well as artists. However, it is true that some artists were squeamish about doing them, in part because they were afraid of trashing their peers and in part because they didn’t want to look stupid for not recognizing some iconic artist’s music.

In the 30th anniversary issue of JazzTimes in 2000, we culled tracks from past Before & After columns specifically with women as subjects, reflecting on legends, heroes and inspirations. Interestingly, nearly every one of them was uniformly positive in their judgment and opinions. Then there was Anita O’Day, who didn’t have a good word for just about anybody. We always thought it funny that many jazz musicians perceive writers and critics to be overly negative, when in fact a lot of musicians themselves are even more judgmental.

After Leonard’s death, his estate gave his archive to the University of Idaho in Moscow which, under the stewardship of Lynn Skinner, has hosted the sprawling Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival for high school and college jazz education programs. Included in that archive are Leonard’s tapes of the sessions, several of which the school has posted online, so that we can hear his conversations with legendary artists such as Lester Young, Oscar Peterson, Ben Webster and Art Blakey. You can find that archive here. Unfortunately, a few were removed, including the Miles Davis one, which I had enjoyed because, for one, you hear him before his voice was damaged. For another, he was very warm and cordial with Leonard, sounding happy to be talking music with a trusted colleague.

Leonard Feather did much more than create and write the Blindfold Test and Before & After, precursors of the “needle drop.” He was not only a prolific writer and author, but also a songwriter, who wrote the lyrics to “Whisper Not,” most notably recorded by Ella Fitzerald. And he hosted radio shows and presented concerts, including the first jazz concert at Carnegie Hall. His Encyclopedia of Jazz, in its many editions, was an essential tome for any jazz fan or historian. In short, he had a long career beyond the Blindfold Test, but at least for now he is best remembered for that innovative approach to interviewing artists.

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NOTE: Leonard’s daughter Lorraine, an accomplished singer and songwriter, currently oversees the estate. On her Facebook page, she occasionally posts family photos from the past, though, in her case, the “family” includes many of the most influential figures in jazz. She’s just released a new album, The Green World, co-produced by Eddie Arkin and featuring Shelly Berg, Arturo O’Farrill, Russell Ferrante, Chuck Bergeron, Marcus Strickland and other A-list players. Lorraine is a particularly gifted lyricist with a clever wit and turn of phrase. I wonder where she got that from. Listen and learn more here.