Amsterdam News jazz columnist Ronald E. Scott will be honored with the Walter and Lilian Lowenfels Award for Criticism at the 47th annual American Book Awards in Berkeley, California. Scott writes the column titled “Jazz Notes” each week, highlighting some of the top artists and events happening in the world of jazz, and has been a jazz writer for the paper for nearly 30 years.
The ceremony is presented each year by the Before Columbus Foundation, which was founded by writer Ishmael Reed, someone Scott credits as one of his mentors and inspiration. Scott himself is a frequent presenter at the Jazz Hero Awards, and is now being celebrated after a long career of giving voice to musicians.
“Wow, am I really worthy of such an award?” Scott said, asking himself when reflecting on the award. “I write because I love writing.”
The ceremony will take place on September 26 at UC Berkeley campus. Scott is one of 20 honorees, including author Matt Shipp for his book “Black Mystery School Pianists and Other Writings,” and Stephen Colbert for his activism in anti-censorship.
Scott says it [music] is a special language that musicians use to convey and highlight the issues of the world through their music, which is the tradition of jazz. For his part, he uses his writing as a way to verbalize and articulate those messages and deeper meaning, connecting to topics like the ills of racism and poverty.
“I try to put the reality of life into the music, because that’s what the musicians are doing,” Scott said. “Musicians are putting into music, sound and artistic improvisation, and what they are experiencing every day in the world.”
Scott has been into jazz since high school, and it was later on in his career, in the late 1980s and 1990s, that he began writing on the topic. He first started writing seriously while he was a publicist for artists, with the help of friends like La’Verne Perry-Kennedy, who ran media relations with Sony Records for several years. He credits figures including Amiri Baraka, Stanley Crouch, Clarence Atkins, Peter Bailey, Don Thomas, Marie Moore, Fred Murphy, and more as some of his friends and mentors who helped nurture and foster him in the Black writer world.
As a freelancer, Scott has written for outlets including The New York Times, Vogue Magazine, The Daily News, Johnson Publications, and ABC Radio.
Scott was first asked about joining the Amsterdam News as a jazz writer in the late 1990s by Publisher Elinor Tatum, when the two spoke at a reception. He says he is grateful to Tatum and the paper, as it is because of his title that he has been able to cover some of the great jazz festivals around the world.
Depending on what he is writing, whether it is a review or preview, Scott says he taps into his life experience as a Black man in America, but he also connects to the music.
“I try to be in a moment of the music, and try to feel where it’s coming from. Music is magical,” Scott said.
Other close friends Scott has made through the jazz and music world over the years include Randy Weston, Clark Terry, Dick Griffin, and Irene Reid.
Scott also co-founded the Transatlantic Jazz Exchange with Nasia Seria, with the mission of bridging the gap between South Africa and America through the magic of jazz, through which they host artists from both countries for residencies in both places, connecting them with different organizations. Earlier this year, Scott visited both Cape Town and Johannesburg as part of the residency.
Scott had a goal to be a better writer in 2026, and he says this award will only push him more. He remains grateful to the artists for all they do.
“Every day, like a musician, the goal is to get better,” Scott said. “Without the musicians and artists, there is no Ron Scott, the jazz writer.”
