EDITOR’S NOTE: There’s a reason we haven’t heard from occasional columnist and comics creator Gary Scott Beatty. Read on to learn the details in this loving tribute to Gary’s mother.
This week we look back at my 2016 graphic novel Jazz: Midnight and remember my mom, who died April 7.
Jazz: Midnight is told by a piano man scratching out a living in an unnamed city, deeply moved by the music around him. It's 1957. Rock and roll will take over soon, but now it's a curious branch of country called Rockabilly.
Jazz had been the in music for over 40 years, but our piano man would grin at anyone comparing his music to swing, or ragtime, or dixieland, or blues. This was cool jazz, the latest thing. Don't be square.
My mom happily enjoyed the complexity of jazz when I was young and played the records for me. We sang along. She was a woman with standards, with an appreciation of quality. Tutored in her youth by a brother in law who was, himself, a jazz pianist, she understood the inner workings of music and would point little things out to me. Perfection is in the details.
I would become a keyboardist myself, playing classic rock in bars before it was classic and touring, regionally, as a front man in a punk and new wave band. When I later settled into real employment, and after the grunge style ran its course, I became bored with current music and rediscovered this wonderful, complex, creative, style-conscious music: cool jazz.
Now, along with many memories of our adventures together, I have an entire genre of music to remind me of my mother. I share it with her every time I listen.
The different ways to order Jazz: Midnight are listed and some nice review quotes are featured here: http://aazurn.com/books/jazz-midnight.html
I will be posting some of the black and white illustrations newly colored for patrons on my Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/garyscottbeatty
In glorious service to our Aazurn overlords,
Gary Scott Beatty
http://strangehorror.com
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