J. D. Kerrigan: Author of GREED, a mystery novel

 Grady Skinner, the protagonist in my novel Greed, is a jazz musician. Advice to writers is often: Write what you know. That’s why Grady is a musician. I am also a musician. When I was in the Navy, I was a member or the Navy band. So, when it came to giving Grady an identity, I chose to have him play tenor sax with a jazz quartet.

I chose jazz because it is my favorite, especially the early to mid-50s. I guess that reveals my age. Some of the greats of that era were John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, and Stan Getz on tenor sax and on alto I liked Charlie Parker, Art Pepper, and Paul Desmond. Of the six, four were considered be-bop musicians. Getz and Desmond played a cool-jazz style.

To tenor sax men, the Granddaddy of the horn was Lester Young. While I liked Lester, I tended to lean toward Coltrane and Gordon. In my novel, I give the name Dexter Gordon to one of the minor characters, not a musician. I do pay homage to him by acknowledging his contribution to jazz.  

Paul Desmond was about as far as you can get from be-bop. As a member of Dave Brubeck’s quartet, he is probably most well-known for his rendition of Take Five. I particularly like his version of Stardust. At the time, fans said of his playing; his sound is like a dry martini. And it was. Icy cool and brilliant. I heard him in person a couple of times. He smoked constantly, even while playing. He died of lung cancer.

Of alto men, few will dispute the fact that Charlie Parker was the king of be-bop. His technique was electrifying and his be-bop idioms were incredibly creative. Unfortunately, like so many talented artists, he died young at 36 in 1955. Drugs and booze killed him, all too often the killer of many great performing artists.

For me, Art Pepper could give Parker a run for his money. He had a fire-brand technique and was all over the horn and you wondered how the hell a man could play like he did. He was a heroin addict and spent in prison for using. He was amazing. I think he reached the peak of his career after he got out of prison.

There was a movie about Dexter Gordon, called Round Midnight. Dexter played himself in the movie. Clint Eastwood, not a shabby piano player, did a movie about Parker, called Bird. If you ever saw the movie Laura, you heard Clint on the piano throughout the movie.

 Of all the jazz eras, I think be-bop stands out and there were many greats: Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Roy Eldridge, Clifford Brown, Sonny Stitt, to name a few. There were so many.

I pretty much wrote this post off the top of head. So, if I’ve got any of the history wrong, don’t hesitate to correct me.