Leslie Gourse, Jazz Writer

Jazz writing is a small scene, a subculture with a lot of competition. Yet Leslie Gourse has made it her life's work in more than 30 books. "I know how to speak to anybody and I know if I'm hearing bullshit or the truth," she says. Her latest, Art Blakey: Jazz Messenger, is due out this summer from Schirmer.

Over the past two decades, Gourse has produced biographies of Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughan, Thelonius Monk, Joe Williams, Carmen McRae and Wynton Marsalis. She's also penned a series of jazz books for young readers.

"I became a jazz writer by accident," she says, when she began chronicling the jazz scene in the 70s while hanging out at Bradley's, the piano bar on University Pl. She spent 25 years, two nights a week, at the club. "All the best pianists in the world passed through there," she recalls.

From 1969 to '94, Bradley's featured piano and bass duos. Gourse has fond memories, like the night bassist Ray Drummond and pianist Kenny Barron switched instruments. One piano player?"I won't use his name because he's still working"?booked himself into Bradley's and another club for the same nights. He played 20 minutes, took a break, ran to the other place, did a set, ran back. When a bartender figured it out, the pianist was fired.

"Bradley's was a clearinghouse of information," Gourse says, "like the Associated Press of the jazz world."

In 1984, Gourse met Johnny "Tasty" Parker, a black trumpet player, at a party, and they were companions for many years. But she had crossed the color line before their relationship. "The longer I've written about jazz, the more I learned about black culture and feel part of it," she says. "You can't talk about jazz without talking about race. Jazz is the black man's creation. White people helped develop and promote it, but without the black man, there would be no jazz."

Gourse has come a long way from her upbringing in an upper-middle-class Jewish family in Fall River, MA. She grew up in a house full of books and music, listening to jazz records. She arrived in Manhattan in 1956 to study creative writing at Columbia and published a successful first novel right after graduation. She discovered Symphony Sid on the radio, spinning jazz after midnight. "He played Mingus and Miles and I loved it." She started clubhopping: the Embers, the Composer, Birdland, Count Basie's in Harlem.

In the 60s and 70s Gourse held news writing jobs, hanging out in jazz clubs at night. "I listened to rock and r&b and disco, but always stuck with jazz." In 1969 she sold a piece to New York about La Lupe, the Cuban singer, a big break. She followed with a story on jazz piano, hooked up with photographer Ray Ross and "I was off and running."

Gourse has never focused on criticism or reviews, preferring to do books and profiles about musicians whose work she respects. Even with a track record and good reviews, it's still a struggle. "It's not like writing cookbooks," she says. "You have to fight for a contract."

Her first book, Louis' Children: American Jazz Singers, published in 1984, traces the evolving role of jazz vocalists. Recently reprinted and updated, the new version includes sections on Cassandra Wilson, Diana Krall and Harry Connick Jr. Gourse, who lives in the Village and works in the Writers Room on Astor Pl., does extensive research on her subjects. "I read the existing literature and listen a great deal, so I know what the strengths are, what the sound is."

A seasoned interviewer, she learned to speak with the artists over lunch in clubs, so their managers would not interfere. Family members have been more difficult. Nat King Cole's widow refused to cooperate, though his valet proved an invaluable source. Art Blakey's daughter Evelyn wanted money to talk; Gourse had no budget for that, so she spoke to the drummer's ex-wives, one child, fellow musicians and friends.

Gourse's smoker's voice is raspy, though she's cut back on her pack-and-a-half-a-day habit, nurtured in many smoky clubs. And she still has her New England accent, despite decades of living in New York. She's currently editing an anthology of writing about Nat King Cole and has three new projects in negotiation, including a mystery for young adults.

Lately Gourse hangs out at Arthur's Tavern, the Village Vanguard, Smoke, Knickerbocker's and Birdland. When she started out, she thought she might run out of subjects. I doubt that will ever happen.