Hot Jazz Trio - Hardcover

Kotzwinkle, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395500966 ISBN 13: 9780395500965

Publisher: Seymour Lawrence Books, 1989

Synopsis

Evokes the Paris of the 1920s, ancient Egypt, and the world of hobos, in a trio of stories that mix surrealism and history, myth and reality

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

The three stories that comprise this collection are rightfully termed "illusions," for Kotzwinkle is a wizard of wordplay and his creations are spellbinding achievements. Few authors can juggle fantasy, humor, stark realism and horror as Kotzwinkle does. Thanks to his magic, the reader is transported to Paris in the 1920s, to ancient Egypt and to the American West. The wonderfully diverse cast of characters includes hobos, a pharaoh, a talking silk handkerchief and Jean Cocteau. In the longest story, "Django Reinhardt Played the Blues," Loli, a magician's beautiful assistant, is abducted by a lovesick Vanishing Box during a performance. In pursuit of Loli and the Box is a group of hapless jazz musicians, who scour Paris and the world of fantasy trying to solve the mystery. "Blues on the Nile" is a bizarre and humorous account of a dead pharaoh who discovers that his workmen forgot to build him a boat to sail into eternity. The chilling "Boxcar Blues" follows two circus performers who are trying to flee from Death, racing across the country with him on their trail until the inevitable showdown. The illustrations, by Joe Servello, heighten the effect of these strange tales. Kotzwinkle's ( The Midnight Examiner ) necromantic artistry puts him in the same league as Poe and Lovecraft.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

This slim volume of fantasy writing contains a 99-page novella, "Django Reinhardt Played the Blues" and two additional stories, "Blues on the Nile (A Fragment of Papyrus)" and "Box Car Blues." The first story features LeBlanc the Magician, who teams up with Jean Cocteau and The Hot Jazz Trio to rescue his assistant from the Land of Boxes; the second tells of a heartless Pharoah sailing toward his fate in the afterlife; the third follows two circus clowns through a hobo jungle in their flight from Death. "Django Reinhardt Played the Blues" has a certain surrealist charm, though it fails to catch fire: the two shorter pieces are less entertaining. Thirty line drawings by Joe Servello accompany the text. These may be--if there is one--the volume's saving grace.
- William Gargan, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., CUNY
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Seymour Lawrence Books
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0395500966
• ISBN 13: 9780395500965
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 153
• Illustrator: Servello Joe