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Music is my mistress
522 pages
An elegant, anecdotal late-night conversation with a master raconteur who lived his entire life in devotion to jazz.
What it feels like
Reading this memoir feels like taking a seat in a dimly lit, after-hours jazz club and listening to a master raconteur hold court. The narrative pace is wonderfully meandering, structured less like a strict chronology and more like an improvised solo, full of rhythmic detours, fond character sketches, and gracious tributes to fellow musicians. The prose is as elegant and impeccably tailored as the man himself, radiating a celebratory, nostalgic warmth. Rather than dwelling on personal darkness or deep confessions, the emotional texture is one of profound devotion to art and community. It is a vibrant, sprawling love letter to the road, the bandstand, and the transcendent power of music, perfect for readers who want to be swept up in the rhythm of twentieth-century cultural history.
- Mood
- nostalgic
- vibrant
- smoky
- celebratory
- Tone
- elegant
- charming
- anecdotal
- gracious
- reverent
- Pace
- meandering
- Themes
- transcendent power of music · life on the road · creative collaboration · artistic devotion · Black excellence
- The writing
- Rhythmic, conversational, and endlessly elegant, reading less like a formal autobiography and more like a late-night monologue.
- The arc
- A joyful, sprawling celebration of a life lived entirely in service to a singular artistic passion.
- Who it's for
- Jazz aficionados and lovers of cultural history who are charmed by a raconteur with a deep love for his craft and his peers.
Content notes
- racial prejudice
- loss of loved ones
About the book
Unabridged republication of the first edition published in New York (by Doubleday) in 1973, with a revised and updated discography.
Description from Open Library.
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