Jazz historian, writer and producer Dan Morgenstern was born on October 24, 1929 in Munich, Germany. His mother was a writer and Dan was raised in Vienna and Copenhagen. He immigrated to the United States after World War II and, after serving in the U.S. Army, Morgenstern attended Brandeis University on the G.I Bill.

Morgenstern wrote for several music publications during the 1960s and 1970s including Metronome and DownBeat. He is also the author of two books, “Jazz People” published in 1976, and “Living with Jazz” from 2004. Both books won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award recognizing excellence in music journalism and research. In 2007 Morgenstern received an award for music advocacy from the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition to writing books and articles, Morgenstern received eight Grammy awards for outstanding liner notes.

In 1976 Dan Morgenstern was named the director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University - Newark. In his decades in that position he created the world’s largest collection of jazz documents, recordings and memorabilia. He also served on countless panels at jazz festivals and participated in the Ken Burns' “Jazz” series on PBS. He hosted television and radio programs about jazz and founded the Jazz in the Garden Series at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Dan Morgenstern passed away on September 7, 2024 at the age of 94.

Here is a link to Dan Morgenstern talking about Lester Young:

"DAN MORGENSTERN ON LESTER YOUNG"