jazz historian . educator . writer
MICHAEL CONKLIN is quickly earning a reputation as a scholar of American 20th Century Music. He has collaborated with author Andy Hamilton (University of Durham, UK) for his publication for University of Michigan Press, entitled Lee Konitz: Conversations on the Improviser’s Art.
Michael is presently writing a series of essays on the lives of jazz icons for Salem Press’s publication, The Forties in America.
Mr. Conklin specializes in music of the United States and jazz history. His interests include many aspects of current trends in jazz and popular music scholarship and performance, particularly those related to race, gender, and class.
Michael has earned his Master’s degree in Jazz History and Research at Rutgers University where he studied with such luminaries as Lewis Porter and Henry Martin. His thesis, a study of the piano styles of Bill Evans and Thelonious Monk, is entitled The Poet and The Priest: The Divergent Piano Styles of Bill Evans and Thelonious Monk.
One of several 1920s Life magazine cover illustrations by John Held, Jr. More than any other illustrator of the time, Held expressed the spirit of the Jazz Age. The title of the cartoon is "Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks."
