The Saxophone in Literature.

[Bartleby]

Have just started reading a novel by Rafi Zabor called "The Bear Comes Home." It is about a saxophone playing bear ,believe it or not, and it really is very good. Can anyone recommend any other novels which feature sax players ..........preferably of the human variety. The author of the book I've mentioned is described as a jazz critic and part-time drummer. So he knows what he's on about. An excellent writer of fiction, too.

[clem]

"The Horn" by John Clellon Holmes is roughly based on the life of Lester Young. Holmes was a "Beat" and a friend of Jack Kerouac, and this is probably his best novel.

"The Bass Saxophone" by Josef Skvorecky is a sort of surrealistic story about a jazz musician during the Nazi occupation. He comes into possession of a bass saxophone, which is an exceedingly rare and treasured instrument to him. If you like Kafka, you'll love this writer.

There are many others about jazz musicians, but these were the first that came to my mind as good literature. I'm sure they are both still in print.

[Bartleby]

Thanks Clem, I'll look for them.

[clem]

Bartleby:

I should also have recommended Art Pepper's autobiography "Straight Life". It isn't a novel, but it sure reads like one. The writing is excellent and the story is so gripping it's hard to put down. It has everything a novel has: plot, fascinating characters, conflict, etc. And of course it's all true. I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's the best book about jazz I've ever read.

[Bartleby]

I'm looking for it now, Clem. Thanks again.

[Jake in SF]

"The Best of Jackson Payne" by Jack Fuller. A very well written, compelling novel that draws on biographical details from several sax greats' lives. Fuller gives some convincing insight into the joys and sorrows of the life of a committed jazz musician.

[Bartleby]

Thanks Jake in SF. Another one for me to pester the local public library for. God! They seem to hate work even more than I do.

[Frank D]

Nice post, Bartleby. I read "The Bear" when it was first published. I'll have to dig it out and read it again.

[I. Fallon]

Not exactly saxophone related, but a technician would like it. A novel called "The Piano Tuner". 1890's British Burma adventure focused around a piano tuner.

[Docax]

I read "The bear Comes Home" last year and liked it. Some other suggestions- some good, others just so-so:

"Shackling Water",Adam Mansbach - by another jazz drummer/poet. recent release about a young tenor player who moves to NYC to study his sax hero in a club, and runs up against drugs, jam sessions, interracial dating, etc. Cool jazz/hip-hop phrasing style drew lot's of praise.

"Barbell's and Saxophones", David Ritz - less literary, more sensationalistic about a jazz saxplaying, womenizing bodybuilder.

"Jam" Alan Goldsher - A young drummer and a saxophonist form a jazz band, then branch out into pop and achieve popular success. Fun, but not all that well written.

...and this year's "1929" by Frederick Turner is getting huge literary reviews and some Pulitzer talk. About Bix Beiderbecke, not a sax player, but plenty of jazz, and Frankie Trambauer and his C-melody appears a lot.