Ben Ratliff

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Ben Ratliff (Kate Fox Reynolds)

Ben Ratliff is the author of books including Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen In An Age of Musical Plenty (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2016) and Coltrane: The Story of a Sound (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007). He was a pop and jazz critic at the New York Times for 20 years and teaches at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study.

Ben Ratliff is the author of books including Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen In An Age of Musical Plenty (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2016) and Coltrane: The Story of a Sound (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007). He was a pop and jazz critic at the New York Times for 20 years and teaches at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study.

Ben Ratliff appears in the following:

The Language I Learned From Cassettes

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

By Ben Ratliff : Writer

The author and critic Ben Ratliff came up in the halcyon days of cassette tapes, when they were as close to a streaming service as you could get.

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Anne Hytta at Folkelarm in Oslo, September 2014. Video by Ingeborg Staxrud Olerud.

The Scrape, the Drag, the Slide: 10 Songs

Monday, July 02, 2018

By Ben Ratliff : Writer

Much of what Ben Ratliff needs in music these days is the sound around the note. The express-lane to that sensation is the sound of the drag, the slide, the scrape. Enjoy ten examples.
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Man Forever's 'Play What They Want'

On Double Drummers: 10 Songs

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

By Ben Ratliff : Writer

It is unreasonable to use two drummers when one would do. But the sound of two drummers – not three, not ten – is exciting. Enjoy Ben Ratliff's 10 examples of beats motley and heavy.
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Maria Monti's 'Il Bestiario'

On Opening Moves: 10 Songs

Monday, April 23, 2018

All music must choose an opening move, and it better be a sustaining one. It better take care of you. Enjoy ten remarkable opening tracks that waste no time in energizing or captivating.
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On Intimacy

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Evidence of intimacy in music can be fortifying and restorative. It is a fast-acting antidote to whatever may be trying to steal your soul. Hear examples from Nina Simone to Iggy Pop.
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Kate Bush performs live at Hammersmith Odeon in London during her European tour on May 12, 1979.

How To Be Smarter About... Kate Bush

Thursday, September 11, 2014

By John Schaefer : Host

The English art-rocker has returned to the stage after 35 years and set a new U.K. charts record. Soundcheck's John Schaefer rounds up ten of Bush's must-hear songs.

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Nirvana's 'Nevermind,' Twenty Years Later

Monday, September 19, 2011

For those who came of age in the 1990s it may be hard to believe, but Nirvana’s "Nevermind" album turns twenty years old this week. Considered groundbreaking by some and over-hyped by others, the album is still often played and discussed two decades later.

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Superfans: The Grateful Dead

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

As the surviving members of the Grateful Dead reunite for concerts in New York this weekend, Soundcheck’s occasional series on superfans continues with a look at Deadheads. Music critic Ben Ratliff of the New York Times; Peter Conners, author of the memoir "Growing Up Dead;" and sociologist Rebecca Adams of ...

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The Jazz Ear

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

We look into how listening to jazz music can be a collaborative experience. New York Times music critic Ben Ratliff is author of The Jazz Ear, which profiles many jazz greats including composer Maria Schneider.

Event:
Ben Ratliff will be interviewing Gal Costa & Cassandra ...

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John Coltrane and the Evolution of Jazz

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

New York Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff says that John Coltrane may be the last major figure in the evolution of jazz. Ratliff’s new book about the sax player’s career and legacy is Coltrane: Story of a Sound.

Coltrane is available for purchase at amazon.com

Weigh in: Do ...

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The Dark Side of Rock Reunions

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Bands like The Police, Rage Against the Machine, and Genesis are reuniting for summer concert tours. But for every sold-out tour there’s another that never gets off the ground. We talk with the New York Times Music Critic Ben Ratliff, and Pollstar's Gary Bongiovanni , about what it takes ...

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