The Jazz Palace
Chicago in the early 20th century was not an easy place for immigrants or blacks, but these are the stories told in The Jazz Palace. Benny, son of Jewish immigrants, always knew music was in his veins, but he doesn’t want to play Mozart and Beethoven; his heart belongs to the “jass” of the African American south side. Napoleon, a black trumpeter with a storied past, becomes his best friend and musical partner. Together, they defy the norms to make unusual music, love the wrong kind of women, and try their hand at success – all against the wills of those who love them, and in defiance of a city run by gangsters, who don’t appreciate such types of mixed-race collaboration.
I found The Jazz Palace to be a mixed bag. On one hand, the portrayal of the time period was fresh, focusing on the musicians and the lives of the working class, rather than the glitz and glamour of flappers and mobsters (though they do make occasional appearances). It was also evident that the author knows and loves the music of the period because you can feel its lyrical nature in the prose. But on the other hand, the novel was bloated with too many characters, leaving you not knowing who to root for, and too much head-hopping that resulted in uncertainty about the point of view from paragraph to paragraph. If the characters had been fewer and better developed, the story would have had a more visceral impact. Instead, it was just an average story.
Jazz enthusiasts will love this unusual rendering of one of the high points of the genre’s history, as will those interested in early 1900s Chicago, but the average reader may wish to pass on The Jazz Palace.
