Gene Santoro

Gene Santoro (October 31, 1950 – April 27, 2022) was an American writer, author, and music journalist. He was a columnist for the New York Daily News, Chamber Music, The Nation, and Pulse!. His writing also appeared in Guitar World, The New York Times, Musician, The Washington Post, Spin, Time, DownBeat, The Atlantic, New York Post, and Guitar Player.

Career
Santoro attended Queens College in 1976 and then earned a master's degree at Stanford University in 1979. In 1978/79, as a Fulbright Scholar.

He wrote about film and jazz for the New York Daily News. Santoro was the author of several books, including Myself When I Am Real: The Life and Music of Charles Mingus (finalist for the 2001 Ralph J. Gleason Awards and the 2001 Jazz Journalists Association Awards ), Highway 61 Revisited, Dancing in Your Head, and Stir It Up. He co-authored and edited The Guitar: The History, The Music, The Players.

Santoro contributed articles on rock music to the Encyclopædia Britannica and The Encyclopedia of New York City and was a member of the editorial board of New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. His writing also appeared in Guitar World, The New York Times, Musician, The Washington Post, Spin, Time, DownBeat, The Atlantic, New York Post, and Guitar Player. He has appeared on radio and television shows such as All Things Considered and Fresh Air. From the mid-1980s, he also wrote liner notes for a number of jazz and rock albums, including E.S.P. by Miles Davis and Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos, as well as recordings by Larry Coryell, Country Joe McDonald, Mark Dresser, Vince Guaraldi, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Stanley Turrentine and Rod Stewart. In his later years, he was a book reviewer for The New York Times, a columnist for Chamber Music America, and a writer/editor for Music Aficionado.

Santoro died at the age of 71 from complications of esophageal cancer.

Publications

 * The Guitar: The History, The Music, The Players (1984) ISBN 978-0688019730
 * Dancing in Your Head: Jazz, Blues, Rock, and Beyond (1994) ISBN 978-0195078879
 * Stir It Up: Musical Mixes from Roots to Jazz (1997) ISBN 978-0195098693
 * Myself When I Am Real: The Life and Music of Charles Mingus (2001) ISBN 978-0195147117
 * Highway 61 Revisited: The Tangled Roots of American Jazz, Blues, Rock, & Country Music (2004) ISBN 978-0195154818