''Young Man with a Horn'' is a 1938 novel by Dorothy Baker that is loosely based on the real life of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

cornet player Bix Beiderbecke. The novel was adapted for the movie '' Young Man With a Horn'' (1950) with Kirk Douglas, Doris Day, Lauren Bacall, Juano Hernández, and real-life Bix Beiderbecke friend and collaborator

Hoagy Carmichael Hoagland Howard Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and was among the first ...

Preface

Dorothy Baker explained that the inspiration for the book was jazz cornetist, pianist, and composer Bix Beiderbecke. In the Preface, she wrote: "The inspiration for the writing of this book has been the music, but not the life, of a great musician, Leon (Bix) Beiderbecke, who died in the year 1931. The characters and events of the story are entirely fictitious and do not refer to real musicians, living or dead, or to actual happenings."

Plot introduction

It is a fictionalized novel on jazz set in a world of

speakeasies A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages, or a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. Speakeasy bars came into prominence in the United States ...

and

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

s during The Jazz Age of the 1920s. It is loosely based on the life of the great cornet player Bix Beiderbecke who died in 1931 at the age of 28. It tells the story of Rick Martin, a tormented genius from childhood until his death at age 30. The racial component of jazz is addressed. Ever since the first jazz record was released in 1917 by the white band

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band The Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) was a Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their " Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz record ever issued. The group composed and recorded many jazz standards, the ...

, race has been an inherent issue in the new musical genre of jazz. In the wake of the success of the ODJB, both white and black musicians and bands emerged. The story also dwells on the white/black abilities to play jazz. Rick, however, establishes a strong relationship with white and black musicians. The book details both the widely accepted public view of the jazz musician of the time as well as a musician's own struggle for perfection. This drive finally destroys Rick.

Releases

The novel has been reprinted many times in hardcover and paperback editions and has been published in German, Italian, French, and Spanish translations. The movie version of the book has been released on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray.

References

Review of Young Man with a Horn
by Jesse Kornbluth, for HeadButler.com . accessed January 2009 1938 American novels American novels adapted into films Houghton Mifflin books NYRB Classics {{1930s-novel-stub