Jazz novels

[Litterick]

You can walk tonight into the Union and find that nothing real has ever changed there. You can walk up to the bandstand with its tiny, scarred rail behind which the musicians sit secure, and after you have put your dime in the kitty, you can ask those boys to play a tune for you. They will understand. And one of them will stand up to the microphone while the pianist accompanies him, and in the dim light and the smoke the young man will ask if anyone in the house loves him, for you who had a dime but could not sing it, and everyone will understand. For a moment in the night, everyone will be silent, and each at his table, or in his booth, or with his instep hooked on the railing at the bar, will be asking, too, in his heart and in his own peculiar way, if anyone there loves him—the song said they did and somebody must.

Now read on.

[robbro@coastwifi.com]

check out " trust me" by Bruce forman very readable

[citizenk74]

Upon reading the thread title, my first thought was "On the Road." Which, of course, doesn't meet the criteria of the article but does exemplify the method of jazz - spontaneous, unedited creation. It's a very long solo.

[Doctor Jeff]

Geez man, and i was just getting around to finishing a couple of books I have been working on forever.

Now I've got a whole new bunch of stuff to have to read...

[sgcim]

Nat Hentoff wrote a novel named "Jazz Country". I read it in Junior High School, and I never returned it. WTH did I know about libraries at that age?

[sgcim]

The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison had some jazz content, so did Manchild in the Promised Land.
The Talented Mr. Ripley had something about Chet Baker. Pynchon wrote a short story about a jazz group in "Slow Learner".
John Barth was a jazz drummer and arranger. There's a novel about Bill Evans called "Intermission"OSLT by a Scottish novelist.
Pynchon's V. had a jazz musician in it.

[Jimmy blue note]

The Bear Comes Home by Rafi Zabor. The most articulately and eloquently captured book of the jazz life, joys, people, injustices and lives in jazz in New York. He's a bear. He plays alto. The book is spot on.

[Litterick]

There's a novel about Bill Evans called "Intermission"OSLT by a Scottish novelist.

Owen Martell, Welsh. Intermission was his first novel in English.

[steve burchfield]

check out " trust me" by Bruce forman very readable

I ordered this book a couple of days ago based on your recommendation , it better be good or Ill send the book police over! Ha! Ha! Bruce is one of my favorite players. That Cow-Bop band he had was very good. Clint Eastwood Big Jazz Lover used Bruce on one of his soundtracks. My latest books have beenMy Life by Keith Richards ,Dylan on Dylan,and a 500 pager on Mozart. I sure wish someone would write a really good bio on Wes Montgomery,but I havent been able to find one. I just remembered there is a Ted Greene bio so maybe I will seek that out. In my town a person can get the main library to order two books a year and the city library system will pay for them.One I ordered was a Berklee Arranging Method with CD. Well happy page turning readers ! and let the gang know of any good books or movies!!!

[steve burchfield]

For a picture book the Hubble Space Image Collection Project makes for some Awesome visuals.Whoever created all that must be pretty smart!

[guido5]

Out of Nowhere: the Musical life of Warne Marsh

[ruger9]

I don't really do novels about music... but anything bio or documentary, I'm in! One of the best books I've read about jazz, and improvisation, and playing with others, and even culture/society... was Wynton Marsalis' "Moving To Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Save Your Life"

Links aren't working on the forum, apparently. It's available at amazon.

[Doctor Jeff]

Nat Hentoff wrote a novel named "Jazz Country". I read it in Junior High School, and I never returned it. WTH did I know about libraries at that age?

My ex-wife borrowed a bunch of books from the U of Iowa library when she was working on her Master's degree in History (which she never finished, btw).

About a decade ago when I was moving from La Crosse to Omaha, I found a box of books in a garage storage room with, you guessed it, said books. Only 30 years overdue LOL.

I donated them to the local library. I imagine they would have made some light bedtime reading for some insomniac.

The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison had some jazz content, so did Manchild in the Promised Land.
The Talented Mr. Ripley had something about Chet Baker. Pynchon wrote a short story about a jazz group in "Slow Learner".
John Barth was a jazz drummer and arranger. There's a novel about Bill Evans called "Intermission"OSLT by a Scottish novelist.
Pynchon's V. had a jazz musician in it.

What WASN'T in a Pynchon novel? Heck I imagine even I am referenced in one of his later books.

I loved him in the 80's, but nowadays I just don't have time for long, dense, highly oblique books like this. (Working on The Martian right now--very science-focused but approachable.)

Highsmith on the other hand...planning to read some of her books in the near future. I've loved many of the movie versions of her books.

[robbro@coastwifi.com]

I hope you like it. I think part of the appeal for me was the locations S F and big sur plus enough gig and guitar reference its a mystery novel as I said pretty readable for a guitar player









i hope you

[MAJackson]

I'd recommend 'Coming Through Slaughter' by Michael Ondaatje and 'But Beautiful' by Geoff Dyer to even non jazz fans. They stand on their own.

[coolvinny]

I think a few of the suggested books in this thread have been biographies/autobiographies...

'But Beautiful' is a novel though and is excellent.

Another quasi-novel would be Mingus's book 'Beneath The Underdog'. Is it an autobiography?? Who knows but it's a wild and crazy ride! It reads more like a novel than a biography if you ask me.