The Jazz Fiction Anthology

A gathering of the best jazz fiction from the 1920s to the present, thisanthology includes 20th-century fiction by Eudora Welty, James Baldwin, RichardYates, and others, plus important recent work from writers such as Yusef Komunyakaa, Xu Xi, and Amiri Baraka. Together these artists demonstrate the strong influence ofjazz on fiction. That influence can be felt in prose sty

A gathering of the best jazz fiction from the 1920s to the present, thisanthology includes 20th-century fiction by Eudora Welty, James Baldwin, RichardYates, and others, plus important recent work from writers such as Yusef Komunyakaa, Xu Xi, and Amiri Baraka. Together these artists demonstrate the strong influence ofjazz on fiction. That influence can be felt in prose styles shaped by jazz --freewheeling, dramatic, conversational, improvisatory; in stories of players andlisteners searching for what lies beyond the music's aesthetic power; and in theambience of the jazz performance as captured by the written word. What soundsthroughout these stories is the universal voice of humanity that is the essence ofthe music.