Swingman, The Unfinished Song

Timing is everything: in music, comedy, sex, car motors . . . and murder.
Jazz saxophonist Al Waters is blessed with good looks, musical talent, and charm . . . but cursed with an inability to hold on to success, both in career and in love. Although sexual conquests are an easy goal for him, he has always chased away opportunities for true intimacy. For a woman, to fall for him is to face heartbreak; for a man, to push him is to flirt with violence. Al has made enemies in too many ways, over too many years to worry about payback, or changing his ways . . . until he meets Stephanie.
This enigmatic younger woman drops into his life, and sings her way into his heart; but she soon reveals a secret, with potentially devastating complications she could never have imagined. With Stephanie, Al’s life changes forever; as do the lives of all those around him, particularly his best friend, pianist Billy Crothers: an enormously talented but equally flawed man, addicted to a pernicious craving quite different from Al’s thirst for love.
From New York, to Montreal, to Las Vegas, to Miami; in nightclubs, showrooms, dancehalls, and seedy bars . . . Al and Billy have survived a lifetime of hits and misses in their musical and personal lives. But another, much deadlier kind of hit or miss is about to change everything.

Swingman is character-driven literary fiction with strong elements of suspense, woven with threads of truth from a professional musician's life experiences: a chronicle of how careless choices in life and love can lead to grievous consequences. With realism few authors have achieved with books involving the arts, this story of two jazz men and their decades-long friendship immerses the reader in the musicians' singular world. As one reader put it: "You can almost hear the music ... and taste the stale, smoky nightclub air . . ."
This saga of obsession, deceit, lost love, and wasted genius has the atmosphere of the films Round Midnight and Bird, with the time-shifting elements of Catch 22. Against a backdrop of bars and jazz lounges in Montreal, New York, Miami, and Las Vegas, the story unfolds over forty years, told from separate viewpoints on a collision course with destiny. The chapters are like a collection of short stories: tributaries converging into a powerful river of understanding . . . surging toward a conclusion few readers will guess.

1123226082
Swingman, The Unfinished Song

Timing is everything: in music, comedy, sex, car motors . . . and murder.
Jazz saxophonist Al Waters is blessed with good looks, musical talent, and charm . . . but cursed with an inability to hold on to success, both in career and in love. Although sexual conquests are an easy goal for him, he has always chased away opportunities for true intimacy. For a woman, to fall for him is to face heartbreak; for a man, to push him is to flirt with violence. Al has made enemies in too many ways, over too many years to worry about payback, or changing his ways . . . until he meets Stephanie.
This enigmatic younger woman drops into his life, and sings her way into his heart; but she soon reveals a secret, with potentially devastating complications she could never have imagined. With Stephanie, Al’s life changes forever; as do the lives of all those around him, particularly his best friend, pianist Billy Crothers: an enormously talented but equally flawed man, addicted to a pernicious craving quite different from Al’s thirst for love.
From New York, to Montreal, to Las Vegas, to Miami; in nightclubs, showrooms, dancehalls, and seedy bars . . . Al and Billy have survived a lifetime of hits and misses in their musical and personal lives. But another, much deadlier kind of hit or miss is about to change everything.

Swingman is character-driven literary fiction with strong elements of suspense, woven with threads of truth from a professional musician's life experiences: a chronicle of how careless choices in life and love can lead to grievous consequences. With realism few authors have achieved with books involving the arts, this story of two jazz men and their decades-long friendship immerses the reader in the musicians' singular world. As one reader put it: "You can almost hear the music ... and taste the stale, smoky nightclub air . . ."
This saga of obsession, deceit, lost love, and wasted genius has the atmosphere of the films Round Midnight and Bird, with the time-shifting elements of Catch 22. Against a backdrop of bars and jazz lounges in Montreal, New York, Miami, and Las Vegas, the story unfolds over forty years, told from separate viewpoints on a collision course with destiny. The chapters are like a collection of short stories: tributaries converging into a powerful river of understanding . . . surging toward a conclusion few readers will guess.

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Swingman, The Unfinished Song

Swingman, The Unfinished Song

by Joe Edmonds
Swingman, The Unfinished Song

Swingman, The Unfinished Song

by Joe Edmonds

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$5.95 

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Overview

Timing is everything: in music, comedy, sex, car motors . . . and murder.
Jazz saxophonist Al Waters is blessed with good looks, musical talent, and charm . . . but cursed with an inability to hold on to success, both in career and in love. Although sexual conquests are an easy goal for him, he has always chased away opportunities for true intimacy. For a woman, to fall for him is to face heartbreak; for a man, to push him is to flirt with violence. Al has made enemies in too many ways, over too many years to worry about payback, or changing his ways . . . until he meets Stephanie.
This enigmatic younger woman drops into his life, and sings her way into his heart; but she soon reveals a secret, with potentially devastating complications she could never have imagined. With Stephanie, Al’s life changes forever; as do the lives of all those around him, particularly his best friend, pianist Billy Crothers: an enormously talented but equally flawed man, addicted to a pernicious craving quite different from Al’s thirst for love.
From New York, to Montreal, to Las Vegas, to Miami; in nightclubs, showrooms, dancehalls, and seedy bars . . . Al and Billy have survived a lifetime of hits and misses in their musical and personal lives. But another, much deadlier kind of hit or miss is about to change everything.

Swingman is character-driven literary fiction with strong elements of suspense, woven with threads of truth from a professional musician's life experiences: a chronicle of how careless choices in life and love can lead to grievous consequences. With realism few authors have achieved with books involving the arts, this story of two jazz men and their decades-long friendship immerses the reader in the musicians' singular world. As one reader put it: "You can almost hear the music ... and taste the stale, smoky nightclub air . . ."
This saga of obsession, deceit, lost love, and wasted genius has the atmosphere of the films Round Midnight and Bird, with the time-shifting elements of Catch 22. Against a backdrop of bars and jazz lounges in Montreal, New York, Miami, and Las Vegas, the story unfolds over forty years, told from separate viewpoints on a collision course with destiny. The chapters are like a collection of short stories: tributaries converging into a powerful river of understanding . . . surging toward a conclusion few readers will guess.


Product Details

BN ID: 2940152559910
Publisher: Joe Edmonds
Publication date: 01/06/2016
Sold by: Smashwords
Format: eBook
File size: 655 KB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Born in London, Ontario, Canada, Joe Edmonds has been a professional musician since 1969, having performed and resided in Toronto, Montreal, Miami, Las Vegas, New York City, and innumerable other locations across North America. His experience has included jazz combos, big bands (including a stint in the world famous Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra), rock bands, "Vegas-style" show bands, and symphony orchestras. During his career he has been privileged to share stages and recording studios with top professionals from around the world as sideman, leader, and producer. Joe's CD of original music, Reflection, has been receiving regular airplay on CBC's Stingray (formerly Galaxie) jazz station since 2009. In 2010 he recorded a CD with multiple-award-winning Skip Prokop, drummer, co-leader, and founder of the legendary jazz/rock band Lighthouse. Out of that recording came the formation of Skip's new band, Smoothside, in which Joe played saxophones, trombone, and flute. In 2012 Smoothside won Jazz Album of the Year at the Hamilton Music Awards. Joe's latest recording project, Swingman, was produced to coincide with the release of this book. (See Appendix) When his son Jason was killed in a highly publicized road rage incident in January 2000, Joe decided he had to try to pull something positive from the tragedy. Utilizing his abilities as a public speaker, acquired through years of musical performance, he created a presentation about the dangers of aggressive driving and road rage, which he has presented to over 100,000 listeners at schools and conferences in both Canada and the USA, including the World Health Organization's national and international conferences in 2002. Joe's flair for writing was evident at age twelve, when he began to bang out poems on his family's ancient Underwood typewriter. By age thirteen, he had completed a collection of short stories, which prompted his teachers to predict a career as an author. As fate would have it, his life plans turned to music, and the book writing dream was replaced by performing and songwriting . . . although throughout his adulthood, he continued to write poetry, and countless articles for magazines and professional association publications. The latest chapter of Joe's life now has him going back to his earliest artistic ambition, while actually combining the writing of music and literature: Swingman, the CD . . . and Swingman, his first novel. A second novel, The Cold Room, is nearing completion. For more information, see Joe's web page: www.joeedmonds.ca

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