Irwin Chusid

Irwin Chusid (born April 22, 1951 in Newark, New Jersey) is a journalist, music historian, radio personality, record producer, and self-described "landmark preservationist". His stated mission[1] has been to "find things on the scrapheap of history that I know don't belong there and salvage them." Those "things" have included such previously overlooked but now-celebrated icons as composer/bandleader/electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott, Space Age Pop avatar Esquivel, illustrator/fine artist Jim Flora,[2] various outsider musicians (including William "Shooby" Taylor, a.k.a. "The Human Horn"),[3] and The Langley Schools Music Project.[4] Chusid calls himself "a connoisseur of marginalia," while admitting he's "a terrible barometer of popular taste."[5]

Chusid oversees the catalog of the late Afrofuturist artist/composer/bandleader Sun Ra and administers Ra's music rights on behalf of the artist's heirs.[6] His book, Sun Ra: Art on Saturn — The Album Cover Art of Sun Ra's Saturn Label, compiled with Chris Reisman, was published by Fantagraphics in November 2022.[7]

His journalism has appeared in Mojo, The New York Times, Film Comment, Mix magazine, New York Press, Pulse! and other publications. In 2021 he authored a biography of 19th century baseball legend Joe Start for the Society for American Baseball Research's BioProject.[8]

Chusid has lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, since 1992.[9] He describes his political views as "leaning libertarian".[10]

  1. ^ Gardner, Lee, "The Outsiders: Irwin Chusid Reveals What's So Good About Playing Badly," Baltimore City Paper, February 7, 2001
  2. ^ Heller, Steven, "Saving Jim Flora's Private Stash: An Interview with Irwin Chusid," American Institute of Graphic Arts, November 16, 2005
  3. ^ Chusid, Irwin, "Shooby Taylor: Meetings With the Legendary Scatman"
  4. ^ Chusid, Irwin, "The Discovery of the Langley Recordings"
  5. ^ Thompson, Spenser, "Finding Rare Music: An Interview with Irwin Chusid of WFMU," Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine BobThompsonMusic.com, November 30, 2015
  6. ^ Knipfel, Jim, "Angels and Demons at Play: Reclaiming Sun Ra's Legacy", The Believer, July 19, 2017
  7. ^ Sun Ra: Art on Saturn: The Album Cover Art of Sun Ra's Saturn Label, Fantagraphics.com
  8. ^ Joe Start biography at SABR.org
  9. ^ Burr, Ty. "The worst of Irwin Chusid; Intriguing or just awful? A champion of 'outsider music' lets it speak for itself", The Boston Globe, November 17, 2003. Accessed February 6, 2013. "The chief standard-bearer of outsider music, and the man who coined the term in a 1996 article, is Irwin Chusid, a Hoboken, N.J.-based record producer, radio personality, and music historian."
  10. ^ Thompson, ibid.