Journalism From 1979 to 1983, Teachout lived in
Kansas City, Missouri, where he worked as a bank teller and jazz bassist; during this period, he also wrote about music for
The Kansas City Star. In 1985, Teachout relocated to New York City, where he worked as an editor at ''
Harper's Magazine from 1985 to 1987 and an editorial writer for the New York Daily News
from 1987 to 1993. From 1993 to 2000 Teachout was the classical music and dance critic at the Daily News
. which was "highly recommended" by Publishers Weekly, A Terry Teachout Reader'' (2004), which
Publishers Weekly called "an impressive testament to Teachout's talents, eloquence and integrity,"
The Skeptic: A Life of H. L. Mencken (2002), and
City Limits: Memories of a Small-Town Boy (1991). Teachout was the editor of
Beyond the Boom: New Voices on American Life, Culture, and Politics (1990), which featured an introduction by
Tom Wolfe, In 2009, Teachout published
Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong. "With
Pops, his eloquent and important new biography of Armstrong, the critic and cultural historian Terry Teachout restores this jazzman to his deserved place in the pantheon of American artists,"
Michiko Kakutani wrote in her
New York Times review of the book.
The Economist chose it as one of the best books of the year, and the
New York Times Book Review chose it as one of the "100 notable books" of 2010. In 2013, Teachout's biography
Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington was published.
Duke was longlisted for the
National Book Awards nonfiction prize. James Gavin, writing in the
New York Times Book Review, called
Duke a "cleareyed reassessment of a man regarded in godlike terms" that "humanizes a man whom history has kept on a pedestal", praising its "sound scholarship and easy readability."
Kirkus Reviews called it “an instant classic…Teachout solidifies his place as one of America’s great music biographers.”
Publishers Weekly called it “revealing…Teachout neatly balances colorful anecdote with shrewd character assessments and musicological analysis.”
Theater Satchmo at the Waldorf, Teachout's one-man-two-character play about
Louis Armstrong and his manager
Joe Glaser, was premiered at
Orlando Shakespeare Theater's Mandell Theatre in Orlando, Florida, on September 15, 2011, in a production starring Dennis Neal and directed by Rus Blackwell. An extensively revised version of
Satchmo at the Waldorf in which
Miles Davis is also briefly portrayed was produced by
Shakespeare & Company of Lenox, Massachusetts, in August 2012, with
John Douglas Thompson playing Armstrong, Glaser, and Davis. The production, which transferred to
Long Wharf Theatre of New Haven, Connecticut, in October 2012, and to Philadelphia's
Wilma Theater in November 2012, was directed by
Gordon Edelstein. According to the
New York Times, "Reviewing a play is one thing; writing a play is quite another. Terry Teachout, drama critic for The Wall Street Journal, makes this hat-switching look far easier than it is with his first play.... Mr. Teachout has done a fine job of building a fiction-plus-fact theater piece."
Satchmo at the Waldorf transferred to New York City's Westside Theatre, an off-Broadway venue, on March 4, 2014. It closed there on June 29, 2014, after 18 previews and 136 performances. According to
The New Yorker, "Teachout, Thompson, and the director, Gordon Edelstein, together create an extraordinarily rich and complex characterization. The show centers on the trumpeter’s relationship with his Mob-connected Jewish manager of more than thirty-five years, Joe Glaser. Thompson forcefully inhabits both men—and throws in a chilling Miles Davis—delivering an altogether riveting performance." Thompson won the 2013–14
Outer Critics Circle Award and
Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Solo Performance" for his performance in the play. It was produced at the
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, California in May 2015, and at Chicago's
Court Theatre, Colorado Springs' Theatreworks, Palm Beach Dramaworks, the Seacoast Repertory Theatre of ]
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and San Francisco's
American Conservatory Theater during the 2015–16 season. It was produced by New Venture Theatre of Baton Rouge, La., Triangle Productions of Portland, Ore., B Street Theatre of Sacramento, California, and the
Mosaic Theater Company of Washington, D.C., during the 2016–17 season. The Palm Beach Dramaworks production was directed by Teachout in his professional debut as a stage director. On February 24, 2018,
Satchmo opened at the
Alley Theatre of Houston in a production directed by Teachout that ran through March 18, 2018; it was performed by
Jerome Preston Bates. Teachout's second play,
Billy and Me, a four-character-three-actor play about the relationship between
William Inge and
Tennessee Williams, premiered at
Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach, Florida, on December 8, 2017.
Libretti Teachout also wrote the libretti for three operas by
Paul Moravec:
The Letter, an opera based on the 1927 play by
W. Somerset Maugham that was premiered on July 25, 2009, by the
Santa Fe Opera;
Danse Russe, a one-act backstage comedy about the making of
Igor Stravinsky's
The Rite of Spring that was premiered by Philadelphia's
Center City Opera Theater on April 28, 2011; and ''The King's Man
, a one-act companion piece to Danse Russe'' about
Benjamin Franklin and his illegitimate son
William that was premiered by Louisville's
Kentucky Opera on a double bill with
Danse Russe on October 11, 2013. In addition, Teachout was the librettist for Moravec's cantata "Music, Awake!," which was premiered at
Rollins College by the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park (Florida) on April 16, 2016. == Other work ==