Critics

Groucho Marx once remarked that he would never belong to a club or organization that would have him as a member.  That was a left-handed way of saying that he wouldn't have any respect for a club that was that desperate. 

There used to be a writer for one of the Canadian newspapers some years ago that also earned this same dubious reputation.  He wrote reviews on music, entertainment and the arts in general. 

His knowledge of music and of musicians specifically was limited to what he had listened to on his old collection of 78's. His record collection most likely went no further than stuff recorded up to around1935. Anyways that's what the musicians concluded at the time.

Meade Lux Lewis and perhaps Jelly Roll Morton would have been his idols, people from the distant past. He didn't appear to have a clue as to what artists like Oscar Petersen were doing.

He seemed to take delight in panning local Jazz musicians in that city.  Since he had no understanding of their playing, he carved them up pretty badly. A writer who is so heavy-handed in his criticisms is not on anyone's favorite Christmas list. He even "wasted” Errol Gardner and took on Sammy Davis Jr. when they came to that city. However, his favorite targets were the Jazz musicians on the local scene at the time.

Musicians would get together and talk about who had been lambasted in this guy's column lately.  It became apparent after a while, that the "writer" knew "zilch" about what was good music and good playing. How he got this writing assignment for a rather prestigious newspaper was any one's guess.

It was concluded that the guy was less than deserving of any respect and had little credibility. His opinions didn't stand for much. If he liked your playing maybe you should be suspicious. Getting a favorable review from this guy was considered something to try to avoid and for many it was an embarrassment.

Soon the talk amongst musicians was that if he did give you a good review, you had better re-assess your playing and start practicing.