Howard was born in Chicago and at age 10 moved with his family to Skokie, a northern suburb that was a nexus of Holocaust survivors, like his parents. At age 16, Howard happened on the film “An American in Paris” and instantly became obsessed with music. By 18 he was a piano performance major at Northwestern, and at 22 he began freelancing articles on music for the Chicago Daily News. The next year he started contributing arts coverage to the Chicago Tribune, where he was hired full time in 1983 and spent his entire newspaper career. Howard’s stories took him to London, Paris, Warsaw, Vienna, Moscow, Munich, Prague, Havana, Panama and other locales, as well as deep into one of the most culturally vibrant cities in the world: Chicago. Howard served for 32 years as the Tribune’s jazz critic, the last three years doubling as classical/opera critic. He retired from the newspaper in 2021, continues writing for the stage and page, and lives in a Chicago suburb with Pam Becker, his wife, a retired Tribune editor.

Howard's writing has inspired two Music of Remembrance commissions. Before It All Goes Dark (2024), written by Jake Heggie, composer, and Gene Scheer, librettist, is based on "Mac's Journey," a series published in the Chicago Tribune. It tells the story of Mac, a gravely ill and deeply troubled Vietnam War veteran whose Jewish lineage and priceless inheritance was hidden until Howard tracked him down as part of an investigation into his own family's experiences during the Holocaust. The Dialogue of Memories (2026) follows the son of a Holocaust survivor as he struggles with the ghosts of her past and finds comfort in an unlikely source - Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. Libretto written by Howard Reich and Tom Cipullo, composed by Tom Cipullo.