21 Comments
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David Kreuter's avatar

There was a name for non-ideological Nazis. The name is Nazi

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Lewis Porter's avatar

Absolutely. I think I make it clear that he became a Nazi. THANKS DAVID

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George Neidorf's avatar

Your research is amazing. I read Morgenstern's columns for years and never knew his background, thank you.

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Lewis Porter's avatar

THANK YOU GEORGE

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George Neidorf's avatar

I could say, no, thank you, but that could become an Abbot and Costello routine.

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MIichael Haggerty's avatar

Thanks Lewis. Dan was great, very generous. I considered him a friend.

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Lewis Porter's avatar

Thanks--I hope all is well with you--THANKS MICHAEL

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James Steinblatt's avatar

Lewis - tremendous story and great to learn more about Dan, one of the kindest people I ever met in the world of music.

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Lewis Porter's avatar

THANKS MUCH JIM!

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Kold Kold's avatar

Amazing. A fantastic story. I knew Morgenstern had 'something' to do with Denmark. But like many who met him and used the jazz studies facilities at Rutgers I didn't enquire about that part of his history. Both he and his colleague were very helpful.

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Richard Kamins's avatar

Excellent! Great work, Lewis!

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Lewis Porter's avatar

THANK YOU RICHARD!

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David Perlmutter's avatar

Dan Morgenstern is probably going to hold for all time the record of having won the most Grammys for writing liner notes. That and his major role in making jazz a university scholarly subject was most of what I knew about him- until now.

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Lewis Porter's avatar

THANK YOU DAVID

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Mary Glennon's avatar

Fascinating article.

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david wilson's avatar

Dan's father, Soma, was a good friend of the journalist and novelist, Joseph Roth. Dan, in fact, met Roth several times when he was a child.

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Lewis Porter's avatar

Yes, if anybody is interested they can find information about that online. THANK YOU DAVID

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Cliff Preiss's avatar

For legal or official documents, it's a common convention to spell out a number and then follow it with the numeral shown in parentheses. That's more about accuracy than emphasis, though. The letter does it the other way around, which is interesting.

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Lewis Porter's avatar

Yes, good point--the letter does it the other way around because protocol is irrelevant here--this is a private letter, in no way an official document. THANK YOU CLIFF

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Jim Brown's avatar

For many years, I've enjoyed a lot of Dan's writing in book form, and several years ago, found a bunch of wonderful youtube videos with Dan sharing his memories musicians and the scene. I met him once, when we both came in to hear my buddy John Campbell, and found him to be quite open and warm.

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Lewis Porter's avatar

John Campbell is a friend of mine too--Great guy and great pianist!

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