![Ben Ratliff](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/photo-faculty-ben-ratliff.jpg)
Ben Ratliff
Adjunct Faculty
Ben Ratliff is a staff critic at The New York Times, where he has been writing about jazz and pop music since 1996. He is the author of three books, including “Coltrane: The Story of a Sound” (FSG, 2007), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism. His writing has appeared in Granta, Rolling Stone, Spin, The Village Voice, Slate, Lingua Franca, and other publications.
Published Articles & Essays
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
October 27th, 2013
An Outsider Whose Dark, Lyrical Vision Helped Shape Rock ‘n’ Roll
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
October 18th, 2013
This Bubble Gum, Too, Shall Pop
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
September 19th, 2013
Everything Is Explored, Though Little Is Voiced
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
July 28th, 2013
Old-Time Religion in Modern Guise
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
May 3rd, 2013
Stirring and Sad, a Jazz Montage of a Struggle
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
April 29th, 2013
Opinions and Feelings, Years in the Making, Play Out
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
April 14th, 2013
Quirks and All, a Group Welcomes a Playmate
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
February 11th, 2013
Mumford and Sons and the Lumineers Serve Old Ideals at Grammys
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
January 18th, 2013
Pursuing Many Paths to Find His Own
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
December 5th, 2012
Dave Brubeck, Whose Distinctive Sound Gave Jazz New Pop, Dies at 91
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
January 29th, 2012
Very Clearly, a Woman You Don’t Want to Mess With
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
January 13th, 2012
Gil Scott-Heron: The Godfather of Rap
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
January 11th, 2012
Present at the Counterculture’s Creation
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
December 15th, 2011
They Put the Face on an American Sound
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
December 15th, 2011
Best Music of 2011
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
December 2nd, 2011
A Young Pianist, Holding Listeners Close
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
November 23rd, 2011
Pulling the Plug on the Old Strutting
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
November 18th, 2011
A Fresh Devotion to the Older Ways
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
November 6th, 2011
Animation Joins Jazz At the Next Wave Festival
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
November 4th, 2011
A Voice of Gray Moods, Joined by 100 Whistlers
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
November 3rd, 2011
Flamenco Fusion With Argentine Flair Salted by Traditional Modes
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
October 28th, 2011
High-Tech Experiment From Inside the Box
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
October 20th, 2011
Controlling Her Voice, and Her World
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
October 19th, 2011
A Hit Maker’s Life and Lyrics
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
October 7th, 2011
Paul McCartney, Pop Music History in Person, and in Detail
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
September 27th, 2011
They’ve Arrived, Like Old Times
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
September 20th, 2011
A New Album by Mick Jagger and Friends
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
September 15th, 2011
Metallica Earns Its Top Billing of the Big Four
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
September 5th, 2011
Chunks of Memory, Reassembled Onstage
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
August 31st, 2011
Imagining the Rolling Stones Without Keith Richards
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
August 7th, 2011
At Newport, Rain Rules the Day
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
June 13th, 2011
Bonnaroo: The Final Night
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
June 3rd, 2011
Jazz in June: Sorting Through the Abundance
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
May 9th, 2011
Unconscious Lessons of a Jazzman
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
April 25th, 2011
Strumming Solo, With the Reverb of a Full Band
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
March 18th, 2011
What Lurks Under the Splashiness
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
February 17th, 2011
The Musical Rhythms in Images Out of Time
![The New York Times](https://journalism.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/logo-publication-new-york-times-1-200x200.jpg)
January 10th, 2011
Jammed Sessions Abound at a Village Jazz Festival