American music historian Samuel Charters dies at 85

Samuel Charters, a novelist and music historian of American blues, folk and jazz, has died. He was 85.
His widow, Ann Charters, said today her husband died the day before in Stockholm of a bone marrow disorder after a serious illness.
Charters, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, moved to the Scandinavian country in 1970 to work as a producer for the Swedish record company Sonet Records.
A dual Swedish-US citizen, he was best known for his books on the history of the blues and jazz, although his subjects also extended to Swedish fiddlers and poetry.
From early on in his life, Charters became enamored of blues and jazz. In 1951, he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, and lived there for almost a decade.

"He felt that the black musicians of New Orleans needed more recognition," Ann Charters told The Associated Press.

"What people often don't know is that he published many books of poetry and five novels. He thought of himself as a poet as well as a music historian."
Charters' first book, "The Country Blues," came in 1959. His last, "A Trumpet Around the Corner: The Story of New Orleans Jazz," was published six years ago.
In between, he published poetry and novels, produced records, and translated, among others, poems of 2011 Nobel literature prize winner Tomas Transtromer into English.
Charters married his second wife, Ann, in 1959. Together the couple was involved with the US civil rights movement and became ardent critics of the Vietnam War.

Ann Charters said they were disillusioned with the US political scene and moved to Sweden, which she described as "a neutral country," the same year.