Daniel Cariaga was a music critic for the LA Times for 34 years. “Criticism can be a profession for the insecure. But Danny was more secure than any critic I have ever known. He was not a moth attracted to the flame. For all his years at The Times, he held the No. 2 position and didn’t apply for the top slot when it opened. As a musician, he trained as an accompanist. I view this as a result of a higher calling than that of stoking the ego. He put music first. In his early years, he told me, he could only write if he put his typewriter on the piano.”