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
October 27th, 2013
An Outsider Whose Dark, Lyrical Vision Helped Shape Rock ‘n’ Roll
October 18th, 2013
This Bubble Gum, Too, Shall Pop
September 19th, 2013
Everything Is Explored, Though Little Is Voiced
July 28th, 2013
Old-Time Religion in Modern Guise
May 3rd, 2013
Stirring and Sad, a Jazz Montage of a Struggle
April 29th, 2013
Opinions and Feelings, Years in the Making, Play Out
April 14th, 2013
Quirks and All, a Group Welcomes a Playmate
February 11th, 2013
Mumford and Sons and the Lumineers Serve Old Ideals at Grammys
January 18th, 2013
Pursuing Many Paths to Find His Own
December 5th, 2012
Dave Brubeck, Whose Distinctive Sound Gave Jazz New Pop, Dies at 91
January 29th, 2012
Very Clearly, a Woman You Don’t Want to Mess With
January 13th, 2012
Gil Scott-Heron: The Godfather of Rap
January 11th, 2012
Present at the Counterculture’s Creation
December 15th, 2011
They Put the Face on an American Sound
December 15th, 2011
Best Music of 2011
December 2nd, 2011
A Young Pianist, Holding Listeners Close
November 23rd, 2011
Pulling the Plug on the Old Strutting
November 18th, 2011
A Fresh Devotion to the Older Ways
November 6th, 2011
Animation Joins Jazz At the Next Wave Festival
November 4th, 2011
A Voice of Gray Moods, Joined by 100 Whistlers
November 3rd, 2011
Flamenco Fusion With Argentine Flair Salted by Traditional Modes
October 28th, 2011
High-Tech Experiment From Inside the Box
October 20th, 2011
Controlling Her Voice, and Her World
October 19th, 2011
A Hit Maker’s Life and Lyrics
October 7th, 2011
Paul McCartney, Pop Music History in Person, and in Detail
September 27th, 2011
They’ve Arrived, Like Old Times
September 20th, 2011
A New Album by Mick Jagger and Friends
September 15th, 2011
Metallica Earns Its Top Billing of the Big Four
September 5th, 2011
Chunks of Memory, Reassembled Onstage
August 31st, 2011
Imagining the Rolling Stones Without Keith Richards
August 7th, 2011
At Newport, Rain Rules the Day
June 13th, 2011
Bonnaroo: The Final Night
June 3rd, 2011
Jazz in June: Sorting Through the Abundance
May 9th, 2011
Unconscious Lessons of a Jazzman
April 25th, 2011
Strumming Solo, With the Reverb of a Full Band
March 18th, 2011
What Lurks Under the Splashiness
February 17th, 2011
The Musical Rhythms in Images Out of Time
January 10th, 2011
Jammed Sessions Abound at a Village Jazz Festival