This novel, loosely based on the life of jazz great Bix Biederbecke, is one of the seminal tales of the gifted but tragically self-destructive artist.  Rick Martin, the young man with a horn, is consumed by music but destroyed by bad booze, evil women and by his own impossible musical ambition.

There is a school of thought, of which this novel is emblematic, that true geniuses are tormented or even driven mad because they apprehend things that are beyond the comprehension of us mere mortals and become frustrated in trying to realize them fully and/or express them in terms that we can comprehend.  (I saw this theme repeated most recently in the excellent movie Pi).  It makes for some entertaining fiction, but it's a load of piffle.

Check out the excellent film version of the novel:
    -Young Man With a Horn (1950)(directed by Michael Curtiz and starring: Kirk Douglas, Doris Day and Lauren Bacall)

And try the music of Bix Biederbecke on:
    -The Indispensable Bix Beiderbecke (1924-1930)

(Reviewed:23-Feb-00)

Grade: (B-) Orrin C. Judd

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