LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
The journalist Nat Hentoff has died at the age of 91. He was an author, a columnist and a noted jazz critic. Hentoff wrote for The Village Voice for 50 years until he was laid off in 2009. Our colleague Ari Shapiro spoke to him then and asked him if there was a song he'd like to end the conversation on that described his career or a personal favorite.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
NAT HENTOFF: One of Duke Ellington's songs, "Things Ain't What They Used To Be." And that is, of course, continually what we are confronted with as journalists, as readers, as citizens. But the other part of that is the roots of jazz go way back to black gospel and all the songs and the field hollers in slavery time. So while things ain't what they used to be, if you're a good reporter, you got to remember what the roots of everything is that you write about 'cause it keeps coming back.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Journalist Nat Hentoff who died yesterday - he was 91.
(SOUNDBITE OF DUKE ELLINGTON SONG, "THINGS AIN'T WHAT THEY USED TO BE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
