Ted Gioia, a leading music critic and historian, is the author of 11 books, including The History of Jazz and Delta Blues, both chosen as notable books of the year by the New York Times. Four of his books have been honored with the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. He is also a winner of the Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism. Gioia’s work has been published by The Daily Beast, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Atlantic, Salon, The Guardian, and many other periodicals. He previously taught at Stanford University, and has also worked as a jazz pianist, record producer, and music educator. He holds degrees from Stanford and Oxford. Gioia currently lives in Austin, Texas, and publishes commentary on music, books and culture via his influential web column and newsletter The Honest Broker.