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Fiction about Music and Musicians

Small Steps producer Mark Browning Milner collects fiction about music and musicians.
Here's a list of his favorites, and he'd love to hear about yours:

Gollin, James * The Philomel Foundation * NY * International Polygonics, Ltd (1986)

   - The first in a series of thrillers featuring - ready? - an early music ensemble. Great fun, and worth searching for.

Doyle, Roddy * The Commitments * NY * Vintage (Random House) (1989)

 - A group of working class Dublin youth struggle to put together a soul band. Hilariously touching. And better than the great movie!

Trollope, Joanna * The Choir * London * Black Swan (1997)

   - Which will prevail, the restoration of the Cathedral or the tradition-bound Choir? Lovely English setting, and afterward you won't feel quite so bad about the politics at your job.

Quarrington, Paul * Whale Music * Toronto * Doubleday (1989)

   - The madness of the creative process, and the struggles with commercial compromise.

Davies, Robertson * The Lyre of Orpheus * NY * Viking (1989)

   - More university politics, production of a new opera, and running commentary by none other than E.T.A. Hoffmann (in limbo).

Conroy, Frank * Body & Soul * Boston * Houghton Mifflin (1993)

   - Unequivocably the best book you'll ever read about the making of a musician, the invaluable teacher, the creative process, performances, and the courting and wooing of the Muse.

Moody, Bill * Solo Hand * NY * Walker and Company (1994)

   - A mystery series featuring a jazz musician, this is the first of four. Moody is a drummer and journalist who knows the ins and outs. His latest (Bird Lives!) features a killer who writes haikus built on classic jazz titles.

Hassler, Jon * Rookery Blues * NY * Ballantine Books (1995)

   - Another real favorite, again set in university, this book celebrates better than any other I know the joys of music making, through the travails of a group of college professors who decide to start an amateur jazz band.

Alexie, Sherman * Reservation Blues * NY * Atlantic Monthly Press (1995)

   - Magic realism on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Robert Johnson mysteriously shows up and sets into motion the founding of a Native American rock 'n' roll band. Very cool.

Proulx, E. Annie * Accordian Crimes * NY * Scribner (1996)

   - Pulitzer Prize winner. A very interesting book with an accordian as the main character. Its lifetime journey is filled with mystery, heartbreak, humor, and joy.

Zabor, Rafi * The Bear Comes Home * NY * Norton (1997)

 - The story of a talking, alto saxophone-playing bear. A contempory fable, featuring guest appearances from such real-life jazzers as Charlie Haden, Billy Hart, and Lester Bowie. To say nothing of the bear's romance with a woman named Iris...

Schneider, Bart * Blue Bossa * NY * Viking (1998)

   - A fictionalization of the life of trumpeter Chet Baker, one of the most beautifully doomed musicians who ever lived.


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