Bob Rusch
Birth nameRobert D. Rusch
Born (1943-04-03) April 3, 1943
New York City, United States
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Jazz critic, record producer
LabelsCadence Jazz, CIMP
Websitecadencebuilding.com

Robert D. "Bob" Rusch (born April 3, 1943 in New York City)[1] is an American jazz critic and record producer.[2][3] Rusch has also been accused of allegedly sexual abusing students when he worked as a teacher.

Biography

Rusch studied clarinet and drums in his youth. During the 1970s, Rusch played drums in workshops with Jaki Byard and Cedar Walton.[4] He wrote for the magazines Down Beat, Jazz Journal and Jazz Forum in the 1970s before founding Cadence Magazine in 1975.[4] He founded two record labels, Cadence Jazz (in 1980) and CIMP (in 1995), and produced or oversaw the release of hundreds of jazz releases; among those musicians he has produced are Bill Dixon, Chet Baker, Glenn Spearman, Ernie Krivda, Ivo Perelman, Noah Howard, Dominic Duval, Steuart Liebig, Cecil Taylor, Fred Hess, Anthony Braxton, Bill Barron, Paul Smoker, and Steve Swell. He has run North Country Record Distribution, an independent jazz label distributor, since 1983. Rusch has donated his large, indexed collection of jazz periodicals to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.[4]

Rusch's book, JazzTalk: the Cadence Interviews, was published in 1984.[5] A review at the time by Kevin Whitehead noted that it includes "one of the best discussions of the social realities concerning the creation of new music to have appeared in print," in an interview with the trumpeter Bill Dixon. Whitehead wrote that "Rusch has conducted hundreds of interviews with improvisers" and considers that this collection, including interviews with "drummer Art Blakey, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Cecil Taylor, and saxophonists Billy Harper, Paul Quinchette and Von Freeman," among others, includes both valuable insights into jazz history and the thinking of the interviewee, and "some dead weight as well."[6]

Sexual abuse allegations

From 1965-1973, Rusch was a teacher at Woodward School, a private elementary school in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn.[7] On June 4, 2014, three articles appeared in The Wall Street Journal[7][8][9] accusing Rusch of "sexually abusing female students as young as 12 years old during the late 1960s and early 1970s."[9] Rusch was interviewed by the newspaper, and in the articles "Rusch acknowledged that he had sex with multiple young students.... 'I accept involvement in some of the things that went on, not all of them, and to that extent I am embarrassed and remorseful and I have been for the better part of 41 years,' said Mr. Rusch, who is now 71 years old. 'I carry a lot of guilt.'"[7]

In 2020, three women filed a lawsuit alleging they were "sexually abused and assaulted" by Rusch.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Yanow, Scott. Bob Rusch at AllMusic. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  2. ↑ Who's Who in Entertainment, Second edition, 1992–1993, Marquis Who's Who, Wilmette, Illinois (1992)
  3. ↑ Who's Who in Entertainment, Third edition, 1998–1999, Marquis Who's Who, New Providence, New Jersey (1997)
  4. 1 2 3 Ron Wynn, ed. (1994). "Producers". All Music Guide to Jazz. Allmusic. with Michael Erlewine, Vladimir Bogdanov & Chris Woodstra (1st ed.). San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books. pp. 711–712. ISBN 0-87930-308-5.
  5. ↑ Rusch, Bob (1984). JazzTalk : the Cadence interviews. Secaucus, N.J: Lyle Stuart. ISBN 0818403578. OCLC 1246791637. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  6. ↑ Whitehead, Kevin (July 8, 1984). "Inprovisations on a theme, and the theme is jazz". The Baltimore Sun. p. 156. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 Hollander, Sophia (4 June 2014). "Years of Abuse at Brooklyn School Alleged". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  8. ↑ Hollander, Sophia (4 June 2014). "Former Brooklyn Teacher Bob Rusch Regrets Losing 'Ethical Compass'". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  9. 1 2 Hollander, Sophia (4 June 2014). "New York Has Strict Statute of Limitations for Child Sex Abuse". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  10. ↑ "Decades later, three women accuse former Brooklyn private school teacher of sex abuse" by Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News, July 30, 2020.
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