All Stories
Snow man
Amply put together, standing tall His hat perched, Astaire-like, tilted; The tight white coat conforming, all Its buttons coal black, sun-gilted. An aging real-life man's inclined To stoop, regrettably so,...
Old age in America: a novel of reality
"Recessional" is James A. Michener's overview of the problems that face America's aging citizens, represented by characters residing in a Florida retirement center. The novel salutes the incalculable worth of...
Tales laugh with, not at Shore
THE OYSTERBACK TALES. By Helen Chappell. Johns Hopkins University Press. 115 pages. $19.95. THE ADVENTURES among citizens of mythical Oysterback, Md., recounted by Helen Chappell, blend cartoon-like exaggerations with depictions...
Tatum biography illuminates jazz era
Soon after pianist Art Tatum began playing professionally in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio, jazz musicians whose tours included that area heard on their grapevine that he deserved a hearing....
Dionysus’ mid-life crisis
THE BOOK OF GUYS. By Garrison Keillor. Viking. 340 pages. $22. ATTENTION, men who are baffled in perceiving just what women in the 1990s regard as acceptable male-to-female conduct: "The...
The Salute
Motorists cannot help observing Signals marking our frenzied time. There is one downright unnerving: The rude, stiff-finger sign. Drivers let tempers flare apace Since all lack time to linger. But...
Underscoring the music of Ellington
This lively biography, through emphasizing the king-sized contributions of its subject to American popular music, provides a perspective that should interest a general readership and not mostly jazz enthusiasts. John...
He still has the touch at 85
MEXICO. By James A. Michener. Random House. 625 pages. $25. IN "Mexico," James A. Michener's newest novel published last year but still widely available, portions of Spanish and Mexican history...
Sour notes beneath the big-band sound
The Benny Goodman orchestra's sound was smooth and seamless as an unfolding bolt of silk; but the creation and maintenance of that sound was anything but smooth. Devotees of the...
And then they nursed it, rehearsed it . . .
BLUESLAND: PORTRAITS OF TWELVE MAJOR AMERICAN BLUES MASTERS. Edited by Pete Welding and Toby Byron. Dutton. 253 pages. $26.95. THIS BOOK portrays 12 great blues singers and instrumentalists. It is...