Marshall Winslow Stearns (October 18, 1908 – December 18, 1966) was an American jazz critic and musicologist.
[1] Stearns played drums in his teens, and attended Harvard University, where, in 1931, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.
He went on to study medieval English at Yale University, where, in 1942, he earned a PhD.
His foray into teaching jazz began in 1950 at New York University (1950–1951) and continued, beginning in 1951, at Hunter College, where Stearns became a professor.
While working in academia, he wrote about jazz music for several magazines, including Variety, Saturday Review, Down Beat, The Record Changer (de), Esquire, Harper's, Life, and Musical America.