What do you think?
Rate this book
Night Song
Inspired by the life of Charlie "Bird" Parker, this poignant, provocative, and stylistically brilliant tale paints a vivid picture of the New York City jazz scene
In Greenwich Village, jazz is king, enticing hip young crowds with its seductive and vibrant rhythms.
Jazz is also the lifeblood pumping through the veins of Richie "Eagle" Stokes, a saxophonist blessed with an otherworldly talent but cursed by cravings for women, fame, and heroin. To ex-college professor David Hillary, musicians like Stokes are gods possessed with the uncanny ability to turn a private inner world inside out and make everything else irrelevant. And for ex-preacher Keel Robinson, Hillary's unlikely savior, the bewitching music serves as a bridge across racial boundaries as he embarks on a forbidden and dangerous love affair.
Considered one of the finest novelists of a generation that included James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, and Richard Wright, author John A. Williams follows a diverse cast of all-too-human characters through nighttime New York City in this incendiary and unforgettable novel.
In Greenwich Village, jazz is king, enticing hip young crowds with its seductive and vibrant rhythms.
Jazz is also the lifeblood pumping through the veins of Richie "Eagle" Stokes, a saxophonist blessed with an otherworldly talent but cursed by cravings for women, fame, and heroin. To ex-college professor David Hillary, musicians like Stokes are gods possessed with the uncanny ability to turn a private inner world inside out and make everything else irrelevant. And for ex-preacher Keel Robinson, Hillary's unlikely savior, the bewitching music serves as a bridge across racial boundaries as he embarks on a forbidden and dangerous love affair.
Considered one of the finest novelists of a generation that included James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, and Richard Wright, author John A. Williams follows a diverse cast of all-too-human characters through nighttime New York City in this incendiary and unforgettable novel.
192 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1963
9 people are currently reading
155 people want to read
About the author
John A. Williams
31 books63 followersJohn Alfred Williams was an African-American author, journalist, and academic. His novel The Man Who Cried I Am was a bestseller in 1967.
His novels are mainly about the black experience in white America. The Man Who Cried I Am, a fictionalized account of the life and death of Richard Wright, introduced the King Alfred Plan, a fictional CIA-led scheme supporting an international effort to eliminate people of African descent. This "plan" has since been cited as fact by some members of the Black community and conspiracy theorists.
In the early 1980s, Williams, and the composer and flautist Leslie Burrs, with the agreement of Mercer Ellington, began collaborating on the completion of Queenie Pie, an opera by Duke Ellington that had been left unfinished at Ellington's death. The project fell through, and the opera was eventually completed by other hands.
In 2003, Williams performed a spoken-word piece on Transform, an album by rock band Powerman 5000. At the time, his son Adam Williams was the band's guitarist.
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
John A.^^^Williams
His novels are mainly about the black experience in white America. The Man Who Cried I Am, a fictionalized account of the life and death of Richard Wright, introduced the King Alfred Plan, a fictional CIA-led scheme supporting an international effort to eliminate people of African descent. This "plan" has since been cited as fact by some members of the Black community and conspiracy theorists.
In the early 1980s, Williams, and the composer and flautist Leslie Burrs, with the agreement of Mercer Ellington, began collaborating on the completion of Queenie Pie, an opera by Duke Ellington that had been left unfinished at Ellington's death. The project fell through, and the opera was eventually completed by other hands.
In 2003, Williams performed a spoken-word piece on Transform, an album by rock band Powerman 5000. At the time, his son Adam Williams was the band's guitarist.
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
John A.^^^Williams
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 21, 2021
A novel about music and alcoholism? Hey, my autobiography is done, I guess.
A solid and compact story about a fallen (and falling down) professor finding solace in Jazz and booze after a tragedy. His new environment, those that take him in, is populated by the ‘negro’ musicians of whom he has no previous experience, much less the slightest societal or intercontextual understanding.
The novel examines White privilege before it had a name while simultaneously doubling as a heartbreaking portrait of platonic love between two different men; men whose commonality may only be how down-at-the-heels each is, and how they personally choose their approach to ultimate oblivion.
There’s a lot more going down—including some ‘lemme blow some trumpet like Yards, ya dig?’ patois—but just read the goddamn thing. I’m not your mother.
Or am I. Hmmm.
A solid and compact story about a fallen (and falling down) professor finding solace in Jazz and booze after a tragedy. His new environment, those that take him in, is populated by the ‘negro’ musicians of whom he has no previous experience, much less the slightest societal or intercontextual understanding.
The novel examines White privilege before it had a name while simultaneously doubling as a heartbreaking portrait of platonic love between two different men; men whose commonality may only be how down-at-the-heels each is, and how they personally choose their approach to ultimate oblivion.
There’s a lot more going down—including some ‘lemme blow some trumpet like Yards, ya dig?’ patois—but just read the goddamn thing. I’m not your mother.
Or am I. Hmmm.
November 5, 2025
banger
March 24, 2024
Excellent story telling by a master craftsman, unfortunately deceased!
November 21, 2024
Eh?? It was just ok. White guy trying to escape his life in NY during the jazz era by interacting with black musicians. I’m sure it meant more than that. But it didn’t for me.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews