‘LITERARY BRILLIANCE’

Groundbreaking Critic and Musician Greg Tate Dead at 65

“Hard to explain the impact that Flyboy in the Buttermilk had on a whole generation of young writers and critics who read every page of it like scripture,” writer Jelani Cobb said.

Essaysists, journalists, and musicians took to Twitter on Tuesday to mourn the death of legendary cultural critic, writer and jazz musician Greg Tate. The 64-year-old died of unspecified causes, publisher Duke University Press confirmed Tuesday. Tate gained prominence as a Black thinker while writing for The Village Voice and is perhaps best known for his 1992 essay collection Flyboy in the Buttermilk: Essays on Contemporary America. He also played with the improvisational jazz ensemble Burnt Sugar, and had written for outlets like The New Yorker and ARTNews. “Hard to explain the impact that Flyboy in the Buttermilk had on a whole generation of young writers and critics who read every page of it like scripture,” New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb tweeted. “It’s still a clinic on literary brilliance. Godspeed, Greg Tate.” The writer Doreen St. Félix described him as “the greatest…and the kindest, so generous with his time and that brain.”