George A. Borgman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Allan Borgman[1] (born January 22, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a musicologist and freelance jazz journalist. A contributing editor and columnist for The Mississippi Rag, he is the the father of the actor Eric Bruno Borgman.[2] [3]
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[edit] Early life
Borgman was the only child of Herman Francis and Martha Vivien (Wecker) Borgman. He grew up in St. Louis and attended the St. Louis Institute of Music, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree and Indiana University, Bloomington, where he received a master's degree in musicology.[4]
Borgman played saxophone and clarinet with such big bands as Larry Tice's Orchestra (1946), Jack Everett's Orchestra (1946) and Jack Stalcup's Orchestra (1950). He was a member of the U.S. Army from 1946 to 1948, playing clarinet in an Army band in Heidelberg, Germany, where he took a music appreciation course at Heidelberg University. From 1953 to 1957, he worked as a high school band and chorus director, two years in Colorado and two years in Nevada. He married Janet Ferroli, a Bostonian, in February 1957. In Spring and Summer 1957, Borgman took a television production course at the School of Radio Technique, New York City. He subsequently worked as a lighting assistant on the Drew Pearson and Quentin Reynolds TV documentaries, and he also worked as a film editor in New York. In 1958, he was a film editor and TV cameraman at KOMU, Missouri University's commercial (NBC affiliate) TV station in Columbia.[5]
[edit] Military career
In September 1958, Borgman rejoined the United States Army in order to get into the Counter Intelligence Corps. After attending the Intelligence School, Fort Holabird, Maryland, he was assigned to a CIC unit in West Berlin. During his Army career, he was a special agent in the CIC, Military Intelligence and the Defense Investigative Service, working mostly in civilian clothes, and spent almost ten years in West Germany, about five years in Washington, D.C., and one year in the Republic of Vietnam. His military rank at retirement in September 1979 was Chief Warrant Officer 3.[6]
[edit] Jazz journalist
In the early 1980s, he worked as an investigator for the Wackenhut Corporation and almost five years as a personnel security specialist (Department of Army Civilian), U.S. Army Military Personnel Center, Alexandria, Virginia.[7] He later worked six years as a sportswriter for a group of suburban newspapers in the Boston area.[8] In 1988, he began writing stories for jazz periodicals, mostly about Dixieland|traditional jazz]] and ragtime, although he has also written about swing, big bands, bebop and modern jazz. He claims that his military experience in conducting interrogations has helped him in interviewing musicians.[9]
Borgman's reviews of jazz recordings and booke have appeared in such periodicals as the IAJRC Journal, Cadence, Jolslin's Jazz Journal, TJ Today and since 1992, The Mississippi Rag, for which he writes a monthly column, "Yankee Jazz Beat."[10][11]
Borgman has written numerous reviews, in-depth articles on the history of jazz and on numerous jazz musicians including jazz drummer Tommy Benford, ragtime composer Joseph F. Lamb, Ruby Braff, Al Casey, Buzzy Drootin, Sabby Lewis, Stan McDonald, Chuck Folds, Stan Kenton, et al.[12] His most recent in-depth aritcle was on Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, in the October 2006 issue of The Mississippi Rag.
In the mid-1990s he was voted in the top 12 jazz critics in the Jazz Beat poll. He is a member of the Jazz Journalists Association and has written liner notes for Stomp Off Records and various jazz recording artists and groups, including Neville Dickie, the Back Bay Ramblers, Stan McDonald's Blue Horizon Jazz Band and Lucinda Ellert's Happy Feet Dance Orchestra. He has also written articles for the annual Hot Steamed Jazz Festival (Essex, Connecticut).[13]
Borgman is currently working on a book about the Casa Loma Orchestra, along with jazz researcher Bill Cahill.[14]
[edit] Family
He has two sons and played a substantial role in his son Eric's feature comedy film The Man in the Movie.[15] His eldest son, Paul, is a mechanical engineer, and resides in Connecticut with his wife.[16][17]
[edit] References
- ^ Who's Who in America, 1994, 48th Edition, Vol. 1, page 362
- ^ Who's Who in America, 1994, 48th Edition, Vol. 1, page 362
- ^ Internet Movie Database
- ^ Who's Who in America, 1994, 48th Edition, Vol. 1, page 362
- ^ Who's Who in America, 1994, 48th Edition, Vol. 1, page 362
- ^ Who's Who in America, 1994, 48th Edition, Vol. 1, page 362
- ^ Who's Who in America, 1994, 48th Edition, Vol. 1, page 362
- ^ Who's Who in America, 1994, 48th Edition, Vol. 1, page 362
- ^ Internet Movie Database
- ^ Internet Movie Database
- ^ Who's Who in America, 1994, 48th Edition, Vol. 1, page 362
- ^ The Mississippi Rag various issues
- ^ Internet Movie Database
- ^ The Mississippi Rag, October 2006
- ^ Man in the Movie Website
- ^ Who's Who in America, 1994, 48th Edition, Vol. 1, page 362
- ^ Internet Movie Database
[edit] External links
- George A. Borgman Website
- The Man in the Movie
- The Man in the Movie at TrikiWiki
- George A. Borgman at the Internet Movie Database
- Listing at TV Tome
[edit] Selected article sources
- The Mississippi Rag
- Who's Who in America 2005
- Internet Movie Database
