Ojai Quarterly Magazine Information

Ojai prides itself on its small-town charm, but it is not so small that everyone actually knows everyone. A person can live here for three decades â€" as Gene Lees did â€" without being widely recognized. So when Lees died in April 2010 at the age of 82, his friends mourned, and his Foothill Road neighbors took note, but his passing was not big news in his adopted hometown. The Ojai Valley News did not run an obituary. Elsewhere, it was a different story. The New York Times hailed Lees as "a prolific jazz critic and historian who approached his subject with a journalist's vigor and an insider's understanding. The Washington Post eulogized him as "a multi-talented writer who left a lasting mark on jazz as a biographer, an opinionated critic, and graceful song lyricist.