George Frazier

Who was George Frazier?

George Francis Frazier, Jr. was an American journalist.

Boston-raised, Frazier was graduated from Harvard College in 1932. He wrote for the Boston newspapers and for Esquire magazine, as well as many other venues, including the New York papers. Beginning as a noted jazz critic, his Sweet and Low Down column, debuting in the Boston Herald on January 27, 1942, was the first regular jazz column in an American big-city daily. He soon left jazz criticism for general journalism. He concluded his career as a much-revered columnist for The Boston Globe.

Called "Acidmouth" by his publishers at Down Beat, he was legendary for his arch style, acerbic wit, erudite Olympian pronouncements on men's fashion, and general je ne sais quoi.

Frazier wrote the song "Harvard Blues", recorded in 1941 by Count Basie and included on the compilation The Count Basie Story, Disc 3 - Harvard Blues.

Thanks to his writing, Frazier earned a place on the master list of Nixon political opponents.

It feels like snow, he said, and it was all there, all the sadness and all the silveryness in a single sentence.