Herb Wong

A collection of Wong's liner notes and jazz journalism, titled Jazz on My Mind, was published in 2016. He began working on the book, with assistance from co-author Paul Simeon Fingerote, following his cancer diagnosis.

Wong died at home in Menlo Park following prolonged cancer-related health problems on April 20, 2014, aged 88. He was survived by his wife Marilyn, two daughters and four grandchildren.

Later in his career, Wong organised a jazz concert series at Stanford Shopping Center and was president of the International Association of Jazz Education. He received the Palo Alto Excellence Award in Jazz Education in 2013.

Wong was president and artistic director of Palo Alto Records from early 1981 until 1985. He also founded Blackhawk Records and produced several albums for both labels.

Wong became interested in jazz music as a child and had his first experience broadcasting while serving in the armed forces. He trained as an educator and zoologist and worked in schools throughout his career. Wong promoted jazz in various ways including writing about jazz, teaching jazz history courses, designing jazz education curriculums, arranging jazz concerts in schools and hosting a radio show for over three decades. In the 1980s, Wong produced music for the Palo Alto and Blackhawk records labels. Such was his reputation, Woody Herman and Cal Tjader, amongst others, composed songs dedicated to him.

Wong began presenting a jazz show, "Jazz Perspectives", on KJAZ in 1959 and hosted the show for 36 years until 1996. He was a prolific writer of album liner notes and over his career wrote the notes for over 600 albums.

Herbert H. Wong (March 18, 1926 – April 20, 2014) was an American jazz enthusiast, educator, writer, producer, disc jockey and zoologist.

Wong was born in Oakland, California, in 1926 and grew up in Stockton. In an interview for the Regional Oral History Office, Wong explained that he was a fourth-generation Californian from a Chinese-American family that included his uncle, architect Worley K. Wong. At age six, Wong began studying classical piano. He was first exposed to jazz music around aged 11 when he and his brother found a delivery of jazz albums, including recordings by Duke Ellington and Woody Herman, in their home that was meant for the previous residents. Wong would often travel to nearby cities to attend jazz concerts.