David Katz (born 1965) is an American author and documentary radio and film producer. He has been described as "one of the world's foremost authorities on reggae, dub, and dancehall".

Biography

Katz was born in 1965 in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, and raised in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

, where he exposed to reggae as a teen from the local radio station, KTIM. He obtained a BA in English Literature from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

and moved to London, England, in the 1980s, where he was retained as Lee Perry's biographer, and later completed an MA in Media Studies at

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

Career

Katz is author of ''People Funny Boy: The Genius of

Lee "Scratch" Perry Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 – 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, composer and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development o ...

'', ''Solid Foundation: An Oral History of Reggae'', and ''Caribbean Lives:

Jimmy Cliff James Chambers OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hold the Order of Merit, t ...

''. He has contributed to many other books on music and culture, including the ''Rough Guide to Reggae'', ''A Tapestry of Jamaica'', ''Caribbean Popular Music: An Encyclopedia'', ''Keep On Running: The Story of Island Records'' and ''Mashup: The Birth of Modern Culture.'' His writing and photographs have appeared in many international publications, including ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', ''Newsweek'', ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...

'', '' Q'', ''

Wax Poetics ''Wax Poetics'' is a quarterly American music magazine dedicated to vintage and contemporary jazz, funk, soul, Latin, hip-hop, reggae, blues, and R&B in the crate-digger tradition; the name of the magazine is itself an allusion to vinyl rec ...

'', ''

Riddim Riddim is the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word "rhythm". In the context of reggae and dancehall, it refers to the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section. Jamaican music genres that use the ...

'', ''

Caribbean Beat ''Caribbean Beat'', founded in 1992, is a bimonthly magazine, published in Port of Spain, Trinidad, covering the arts, culture and society of the Caribbean, with a focus on the region's English-speaking territories. It is distributed in-flight by C ...

'' and '' Murder Dog''. Katz has coordinated and annotated more than 100 retrospective collections of Jamaican music, has released original records in the UK and France, and has co-hosted reggae radio programmes on three continents. In 2013, he was invited to present at the University of the West Indies' 2013 International Reggae Conference. Katz has produced documentaries for Afropop Worldwide/Public Radio International and contributed to radio and television documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4 and Arte and was a music consultant on the feature film ''Dreaming Lhasa''. Katz holds a regular residency as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

, presenting the "Dub Me Always" reggae vinyl nights at the

Ritzy ''Ritzy'' is a lost 1927 American comedy silent film directed by Richard Rosson and written by Elinor Glyn, Percy Heath, Robert N. Lee and George Marion, Jr. The film stars Betty Bronson, James Hall, William Austin, Joan Standing, George N ...

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

and has played at venues and festivals throughout Europe, the US, Japan and Brazil. He has also co-chaired panel discussions with performers, journalists and filmmakers at various music festivals and given presentations at different international universities and other venues. Originally from San Francisco, he has been a London resident for many years.

Critical reaction

In an ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

'' review of the revised and expanded edition of ''People Funny Boy'' published by White Rabbit, Jim Wirth said: Mark Terrill, writing in ''Rain Taxi'', said of the book ''People Funny Boy'': Mike Atherton, writing in ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

'', said of the book ''People Funny Boy'': Regarding the book ''Solid Foundation'', in ''

'', Colin Grant said: A review in ''Spannered'' of the book ''Solid Foundation'' says: Jay Trachtenberg, writing in ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

'', said of ''Solid Foundation'': A review of ''Solid Foundation'' in ''Reggaezine'' said: Chris Menist, writing in ''With Guitars'', said of ''Solid Foundation'':

Bibliography

* * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Katz, David 1965 births American documentary film producers American emigrants to England American music journalists British documentary filmmakers British music journalists English music journalists Living people Mojo (magazine) people Reggae journalists Writers from San Francisco San Francisco State University alumni