Jazz

by Miles Rothwell

Ben ‘Freddie’ Thurman lives a solitary life playing piano in a Seoul Jazz club. He lives in a one bedroom apartment. His days float by, rarely seeing the Sun, sleeps after performing all night.One night a group of business men stroll in as it’s the only place open. One of the men, takes a photo of the Band with his Android, sometime later he sends it home and to his wife and son who live in the USA. His son researches the Musician and finds out he was a famous session player and member of a backing band at the Lynx Lounge who used to support Freddie Webster, Sonny Stitt and a host of others.The Band were underpaid and ripped off by club owners, the main man Lucky Trappiste often wrote melodies for Bird and was paid in drugs. They went into a radio station studio and recorded nine songs for a record known as the Evidence Sessions – only a few demo copies were pressed but those who heard it said it inspired Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman and others along the way to Free Jazz.The Americans in the Club don’t know much about Jazz but they are intrigued with the piano player performing in a Seoul nightclub which is part of a world of drugs, prostitutes and other creatures of the Seoul underworld. Freddie symbolises New York - The people the subway the parks the restaurants they were all me, he states. He lived in the Cecil Hotel on Seventh Ave and frequented Minton’s. Freddie remembers the Brownstones with names like Adelle, Onyx. Guy called Drex – used to sell Dexedrine to musos to keep them going through the ten or twelve sets a night – all these musos traversing the streets going from one gig to another sitting in with each other fights over money trying to out solo each other. One of Freddie's neighbours is Gigi, a transsexual dancer who is murdered which calls into question the integrity of the Clubland owners and their dealings with property developers with links to the Freemason Fraternity.Freddie's friends Jae-yo and Cia find out about Gigi's murder while on holiday at a peaceful meditation resort in the countryside. The style of the story is film noir based with references to the purity of Jazz performance and the search and dedication to the cause. Freddie decides the official report of Gigi's death is unacceptable and takes it upon himself to investigate further by delving into the shadowy world of Club owners. Freddie is approached by one such underworld to perform in a proposed Casino venue which Freddie initially baulks at as it epitomises everything he despises – commercialism on a grand scale but changes his mind when the Developer insinuates he might be able to assist with his enquiries into Gigi's death.

134 pages, Paperback

Published July 30, 2020

About the author

Miles Rothwell was born in Sydney, Australia in 1962. His first creative piece of writing was a short poem titled - Snow which impressed his school teacher so much he had to read it in front of his class mates which by all accounts was a terrifying experience.
When the band Talking Heads released 'Remain In Light', Miles became obsessed with writing lyrics. After reading Joyce's 'Ulysses', Miles knew he wanted to become an author. His first manuscript was written while living in Darlinghurst in the 1980's.
Miles wanted to be a musician but had neither the skill or aptitude to progress, so writing became an obsession trying to emulate the likes of Joyce, Proust, Pynchon and Patrick White.
Music is a constant theme in all his novels as Miles sees Music as Humankind's most artistic pursuit.
Favourite Books:
Ulysses - extraordinary, brilliant and full of risks.
Gravity's Rainbow - simply a work of genius
À la recherche du temps perdu - superb re-counting of detail taken to the most extreme level
Tree of Man - White at his best, there is something noble in the ordinariness of the characters.
Catch-22 - the book that changed my years in high school
The Glass Bead Game - pure genius and one of the most under rated novelists
Miles ranks making Spike Milligan laugh at an ABC shop book signing as one of his greatest personal moments.