Annette Johnson

A Jazzman's Tale Annette Johnson

Described as 'entertaining' (UK Jazz Journal), 'uniquely informed and informative...a must read for all jazz fans' (Midwest Book Review) and 'a fast-moving, highly entertaining and transportive read, visually evocative, demonstrating the disarray of a jazz life with language that echoes the spirit of improv - a literary fugue in three parts' (Debbie Burke, Jazz Author), this book is a fun, quick and interesting read. Based on an interview with Freeman Lee, bebop trumpeter and pianist, the story follows Freeman falling in love with vibraharpist Milt Jackson's wife, Jenny, getting the girl and marrying her amidst the turmoil of the 1950s New York bebop era, with racial segregation in jazz venues as well as the country at large. By revealing the ordinary lives and loves of the bebop protagonist Freeman Lee and his companions Monk, Elmo Hope, Lou Donaldson and others in the jazz scene at clubs Minton's Playhouse and The Paradise, the work demystifies the jazz world and the jazzmen's camaraderie and high jinx come alive with humour and wit. A Jazzman's Tale is meant for jazz newbies and jazzheads alike, because it entertains as it informs. As a bonus, the book includes beautiful vintage photographs of student life at HBCU Wilberforce University, home of Wilberforce Collegians, a jazz band formed in the 1920s by jazz great Fletcher Henderson. Frank Foster, Freeman Lee, Snooky Young, Ben Webster, Benny Carter and Billy Strayhorn were alumni of the Collegians.