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Cuthbert Ormond Simpkins, II (born August 20, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois), is a physician, biographer and inventor, best known for his work on shock and violence prevention and for his 1975 biography of the jazz musician John Coltrane. == Early years == Simpkins' father, C. O. Simpkins, Sr., is a dentist from Shreveport, Louisiana, who served a single term from 1992 to 1996 as a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from the heavily African American District 4.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Results for Elections: October 19, 1991 )〕 His mother, the former Dorothy Herndon, is a social worker, also originally from Chicago. Until he was fourteen, Simpkins, lived with his family in Shreveport, at the time a heavily segregated city. Simpkins, Sr., took an active role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Two of their family homes in Shreveport were bombed. The senior Simpkins' malpractice insurance was cancelled and he was denied renewal because he was listed as No. 1 on the death list of racist elements. These events forced the Simpkinses to leave Louisiana. The senior Simpkins later returned to Shreveport; at the age of eighty-eight in a 2013 television interview he denounced the United States Supreme Court decision that invalidated an enforcement provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 with the declaration, "It’s time to fight again." Simpkins, II, received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, having graduated with honors in chemistry. In his senior year at Amherst he began work on the biography of American saxophonist and composer John Coltrane. After graduation from Amherst, he earned his medical degree from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from which he graduated in 1974. At Harvard, he finished the book ''Coltrane: A Biography'', which was published in 1975. Another biography of Coltrane, ''Chasin’ the Trane'' by J. C. Thomas was published in the same year. It is not clear which book was published first. ''Coltrane: A Biography'' was well received by major media critics such as Mel Watkins who wrote in ''The New York Times'' Saturday book review section, “Dr. Simpkins very often accomplishes something that few other jazz biographers have done: He narratively simulates the emotional effect of the subject’s music.” Other favorable reviews included: Berkley Barb “We are always made to see the political and cultural context in which Trane lived. Blues, religion, black power, Africa… In reading it, one not only learns about Trane, but senses what it was like to hear him. To be alive with him…At last a fine Coltrane Biography.” Amsterdam News (New York) "This book reveals Dr. Simpkins as a literary talent worthy of attention” Essence Magazine “Coltrane? What do I say? One helluva book.” Ediciones Jucar, published a Spanish translation in 1985. A review was published in the June 3, 2014 online version of the Paris Review by documentarian Sam Stephenson. http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/06/03/an-absolute-truth-on-writing-a-life-of-coltrane/ 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cuthbert Ormond Simpkins」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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