Leslie Gourse, 65; Author of Popular Books on Jazz Musicians
Leslie Gourse, 65, a freelance writer and author of a number of books on leading jazz figures, including Thelonious Monk, Nat King Cole and Wynton Marsalis, died Dec. 23 in New York City. The cause of death was a respiratory ailment.
A native of Fall River, Mass., Gourse graduated from Columbia University. She began writing about social trends and the arts and found her work about jazz to be readily accepted. She wrote more than 20 books on jazz, including the influential “Madame Jazz: Contemporary Women Instrumentalists” (1995).
She won the Deems Taylor Award from ASCAP in 1991 for a series of articles about women jazz musicians that ran in Jazz Times magazine.
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