Ira Gitler

December 18, 1928 – February 23, 2019

Instrument lyricist, journalist, writer
Birthplace Brooklyn, NY

Available Leadsheets

Jazz journalist, lyricist and one of the world's #1 bebop fans, Ira Gitler's enthusiasm for the music has been a consistent feature of his prolific writing through the years. As a staff producer for Prestige Records during the early 1950s, Gitler worked as a producer on many dates and generally wrote the colorful liner notes.

He helped Leonard Feather out on Feather's original Encyclopedia of Jazz and his role in subsequent Encyclopedias grew to the point where he received co-billing. Gitler was at one time an associate editor of Down Beat magazine. He also wrote for the jazz magazine Metronome and is a longtime contributor to Jazz Times. Gitler has written two classic books: "Jazz Masters of the Forties" and "From Swing To Bop."