Stanley Crouch (1945–2020): The Master of “Blues-Collar Clarity”
3 min readSep 23, 2020
Stanley Crouch, jazzman, cultural critic, literary artist, and public intellectual died last week. He was 74-years-old. Crouch wrote essay collections, fiction, a biography of saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker, and a photo book called, One Shot Harris: The Photographs of Charles “Teenie” Harris. Crouch was mentored by literary giants Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray.