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Peter Occhiogrosso is an American author of nonfiction books, as well as a coauthor, collaborator, ghostwriter, and journalist who began his writing career in 1970 as a jazz reviewer and interviewer. His books have focused primarily on spirituality and world religion, although he has also coauthored books by public figures as disparate as talk-show host Larry King [], cabaret singer Michael Feinstein [] and rock icon Frank Zappa []. [Ref: Sovetov]

Occhiogrosso was based in Manhattan when he began writing about jazz for independent publications including Zygote, Changes, Village Voice, Soho Weekly News, Crawdaddy, New Times, and Different Drummer (Rochester, N.Y.), as well as the national jazz magazine Down Beat. For a time he was a correspondent for the British music paper Melody Maker, and the Japanese jazz magazine Swing Journal, for which he wrote a lengthy series about the Manhattan loft jazz scene profiling many of its most prominent players.

From 1975 to 1982 he served as Music Editor and Associate Editor of the Soho Weekly News, continuing to write frequently about jazz and helping to develop or give greater exposure to a number of influential music and pop culture journalists, including Tim Page, Roy Trakin, Steve Bloom, Aaron Fuchs, Stanley Crouch, Pat Wadsley, Vivien Goldman, Mick Farren, and Ira Kaplan (who went on to found the popular rock combo Yo La Tengo). After the Soho News closed in 1982, he worked as Associate Editor at Star Hits and contributed features about music, film, and pop culture to Playboy, L’uomo Vogue, Lei, and American Film, among others. Biography