To a Young Jazz Musician Letters from the Road

In To a Young Jazz Musician, the renowned jazz musician and Pulitzer Prize winning composer Wynton Marsalis gives us an invaluable guide to making good music and to leading a good life.
Writing from the road between the bus ride, the sound check, and the gig,
Marsalis passes on wisdom gained from experience, addressed to a young musician coming up and to any of us at any stage of life. He writes that having humility is a way to continue to grow, to listen, and to learn; that patience is necessary for developing both technical proficiency and your own art rather than an imitation of someone else s; and that rules are indispensable because freedom lives in structure.
He offers lessons learned from his years as a performer and from his great forebears Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and others; he explores the art of swing; he discusses why it is important to run toward your issues, not away; and he talks about what to do when your integrity runs up against the lack thereof in others and in our culture. He poetically expresses our need for healers: All of it tracks back to how you heal your culture, one patient at a time, beginning with yourself.
This is a unique book, in which a great artist offers his personal thoughts, both on jazz and on how to live a better, more original, productive, and meaningful life. To a Young Jazz Musician is sure to be treasured by readers young and old, musicians, lovers of music, and anyone interested in being mentored by one of America s most influential, generous, and talented artists.