Peter Dickinson obituary

Peter Dickinson spent three formative years in New York. ‘The impact of New York was extraordinary. London was dull around 1960. New York was mind-blowing’ Photograph: none

The composer, pianist, author, academic and broadcaster Peter Dickinson, who has died aged 88, introduced music lovers in Britain to new sounds from America, from ragtime and jazz to the most experimental pieces. He inspired interest in unfamiliar works and was a pioneer in the teaching of jazz and popular music in UK degree courses.

An authority on American and British composers from Aaron Copland and John Cage to Sir Lennox Berkeley and Lord Berners, he wrote books including The Music of Lennox Berkeley (1988) and CageTalk: Dialogues With and About John Cage (2006).