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Jack Bowers

A former newspaper writer / editor who has been writing about jazz for more than twenty-five years.

About Me

I never intended to be a writer, of jazz or anything else. I wanted to be a sportscaster, and was in radio for more than five years until a June night in 1963 when the car I was driving was ambushed by another and I was almost totaled — “almost” being the operative word. As a result of the accident I was left with a partially paralyzed tongue. So much for my radio career. Under the circumstances, I had few options. As writing had always come easy to me, a writer I became, spending more than thirty years (including about a dozen in sports) writing for and editing newspapers. As for jazz reviewing, my work in that area started by chance when Bill Ashton, director of the UK's National Youth Jazz Orchestra, asked me for reasons unknown to review NYJO's latest CD. I couldn't refuse, submitted the appraisal to Cadence magazine, and my career as a reviewer was launched. That was in the early '90s. I retired from my “day job” in June '97 and started writing for All About Jazz shortly afterward. I was with Cadence for more than ten years, and reviewed for a time for Jazz Improv, Jazz News and other publications. I plan to continue writing until all the marbles have been scattered. Personally, I've been married twice with three children — Ken, Ford and Lisa — from the first marriage. Collectively, they have given me seven lovely grandchildren and four great-grandchildren (the first of whom, Lennon, was born on my birthday, May 10, 2011). My present wife, Betty, and I moved to Albuquerque in 2003. It's truly a lovely place to live (but please don't tell anyone!).