Balliett, Whitney (1926–2007)

US jazz critic. He worked for the New Yorker 1954–98, penning his own column from 1957. His atmospheric, persuasive, and in-depth writings have been widely anthologized in collections such as American Musicians (1986) and Journal of Jazz (2000).

He was born in New York, New York, and graduated from Cornell University in 1951, after serving in World War II. He received the literature award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1996.