{"product_id":"song-for-my-fathers-isbn-9781590513767","title":"Song for My Fathers","description":"\u003ci\u003eSong for My Fathers \u003c\/i\u003eis the story of a young white boy driven by a consuming passion to learn the music and ways of a group of aging black jazzmen in the twilight years of the segregation era. Contemporaries of Louis Armstrong, most of them had played in local obscurity until Preservation Hall launched a nationwide revival of interest in traditional jazz. They called themselves “the mens.” And they welcomed the young apprentice into their ranks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe boy was introduced into this remarkable fellowship by his father, an eccentric Southern liberal and failed novelist whose powerful articles on race had made him one of the most effective polemicists of the early Civil Rights movement. Nurtured on his father’s belief in racial equality, the aspiring clarinetist embraced the old musicians with a boundless love and admiration. The narrative unfolds against the vivid backdrop of New Orleans in the 1950s and ‘60s. But that magical place is more than decor; it is perhaps the central player, for this story could not have taken place in any other city in the world.\u003cb\u003ePublishers Weekly: STARRED REVIEW\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this beguiling coming-of-age memoir, a former Time Paris bureau chief takes a heartfelt look at his unusual Crescent City childhood during the 1950’s and 60’s. At 13, the author, son of a liberal white journalist-turned-novelist and a Mississippi debutante, begins clarinet lessons, learning to play traditional New Orleans jazz from veteran black musicians who were the heart of Preservation Hall in the famous French Quarter and the soul of the local black community. Sancton loves the music, but at the same time lives the life of a middle-class white teen, expected to share the prejudices and enthusiasms of his peers. Caught between disparate social worlds and racial realities, he, “[l]ike Clark Kent…, had a double identity.” This enduring portrait of a particular side of New Orleans – which Sancton (Death of a Princess) notes “had mostly faded into history long before Katrina struck” – vividly captures the author’s complicated relationships with his father, his hometown and the wonderful characters drawn to it. Sketches pay homage to clarinetist George Lewis, banjoist Creole George Guesnon, and others in prose that can emotionally mimic the sound of a horn and summon the taste of red beans and rice. (June)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWoody Allen: \u003cbr\u003e“Finally a book about New Orleans music from a totally fresh perspective. Tom Sancton was fortunate to have had a very colorful upbringing in the cradle of jazz and we're fortunate that he wrote about it so rivetingly.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWynton Marsalis: \u003cbr\u003e“This is an important inside look into an underinvestigated period of New Orleans music. It tells a story with an insider’s heart, a reporter’s eye, and the pure feeling of a New Orleans musician. Enjoyable, informative and engaging.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLibrary Journal, \u003c\/b\u003eWilliam G. Kenz \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA memoir in the truest sense of the word, this is the story of a young white boy discovering life at its most meaningful and bittersweet...Brimming with the creatively ripe atmosphere of New Orleans pre-Katrina.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTime Magazine \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn his memoir \u003ci\u003eSong for My Fathers\u003c\/i\u003e, former TIME Paris bureau chief Tom Sancton recaptures the jazz-filled spirit of New Orleans in the 1950s and '60s, recounting his experiences and fellowship with \"the mens,\" the black musicians of Preservation Hall. A white clarinetist caught between his father's belief in racial equality and the prejudices of his peers, Sancton finds a second family in these aging jazzmen and the world they created--a world, he writes, that \"had mostly faded into history long before Katrina struck.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew Orleans Times Picayune, \u003c\/b\u003eSusan Larson \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSong for My Fathers\u003c\/i\u003e is a serenade to many things -- to \"the mens,\" who gave Sancton a sense of artistry as well as a model for endurance; to his own unconventional father, who found in \"the mens\" a metaphor for, and a hope of, his own redemption; middle-class family life in 1960s New Orleans; and the hope for racial harmony, or the wisdom that comes through understanding. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book has many strengths -- it is that rare chronicle of a young person growing up in New Orleans who is able to bridge the racial barrier, as well as an equally rare account of a young person's public school education here. French Quarter characters and musical legends spring to life in these pages -- George Lewis, George Guesnon, Percy and Willie Humphrey, Harold Dejan, Sweet Emma Barrett, Punch Miller, Chester Zardis, artist Noel Rockmore, Sandy and Allan Jaffee, Larry Borenstein, Bill Russell, Mike Stark, even a very young Quint Davis. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSong for My Fathers\u003c\/i\u003e struts with the energy of youth, tempered a bit by the wisdom of middle age, and the bittersweet certainty that change is inevitable. Every page of this newly minted classic of life in New Orleans is filled with grace and gratitude, a debt paid in full to the men who showed Tom Sancton the way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEdge, \u003c\/b\u003eEsther Friedman \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs the nation grieves the devastation Hurricane Katrina visited on the Gulf Coast, \u003ci\u003eSong for My Fathers\u003c\/i\u003e offers an often funny and sometimes heart-wrenching tribute to the battered city, a salutation to the wisdom, strength and humor of the music and musicians who give New Orleans its soul, and a guidebook to its heart. It is also a salutation to the power of music that melts down racial\/class\/economic barriers, and an important chronicle of the history of civil rights, as well as the city’s significance and contribution to our country.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEntertainment Weekly \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReturning to his hometown, New Orleans, Sancton places his hands on Preservation Hall's wrought-iron gates and peers in, recalling a city that \"had mostly faded into history long before Katrina struck--a victim of time, progress, and the eternal passing of generations.\" TIME's ex-Paris bureau chief (and an accomplished clarinetist) honors his father, a white writer with progressive views, and \"the mens,\" the black and Creole musicians who accepted the author into their ranks. When George Lewis plays a lick and tells a young Sancton, \"Make that,\" he invites him also to imagine a world beyond racism. Sancton's prose seduces like a good second-line parade. \u003cb\u003eB+\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGambit Weekly, \u003c\/b\u003eTom McDermott \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe number of readable books about traditional jazz is surprisingly small, so \u003ci\u003eSong for My Fathers: A New Orleans Story in Black and White\u003c\/i\u003e is a terrific find. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book contains some of the best writing ever about the New Orleans Revival, the rediscovery of some of the city's earliest jazz men that began at the end of the 1930s and gained traction with Bunk Johnson's first recordings in 1942. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe narrative, basically a series of reminiscences, is neatly sandwiched between two jazz funerals: the 1954 burial of Papa Celestin, which the author attended at the age of 5, and that of clarinetist George Lewis, whose passing in 1969, the year the author left for Harvard, signifies the end of an era for Sancton. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSancton's status as a successful Orleanian-in-exile (he lives just outside Paris) gives him the freedom to write without worrying about flattery or offense.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFort Wayne Journal Gazette \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSancton loves the music, but at the same time lives the life of a middle-class white teen, expected to share the prejudices and enthusiasms of his peers. Sketches pay homage to clarinetist George Lewis, banjoist Creole George Guesnon and others in prose that can emotionally mimic the sound of a horn and summon the taste of red beans and rice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eUSA Today \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSancton, former Paris bureau chief for \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e, has written a lyrical memoir that re-creates a time and place and tells a poignant story about a father who was as difficult as he was lovable.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSan Antonio Express-News, \u003c\/b\u003eJim Beale Jr. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book is a powerful snapshot of the resurgence of interest in trad jazz in the '60s, the rise of Preservation Hall, a bit of a look at the lives of legends such as Lewis, Guesnon, the Humphrey brothers, Sweet Emma Barrett, Danny Barker, Jim Robinson, Harold Dejan and many others. It offers a glimpse of a New Orleans that was long gone before Hurricane Katrina hit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJ.B. Spins \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSancton is an excellent writer, and his affectionate portrayal of “the mens” is absorbing. His accounts of his family, particularly his complex relationship with his father are also surprisingly compelling, sometimes even bordering on Southern Gothic. Written before Katrina, Sancton added a preface about his return to his parents’ storm ravaged home, adding an additional chapter of frustration to his family history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution, \u003c\/b\u003eHenry L. Carrigan Jr. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSancton's poignant coming-of-age tale serves as both a loving paean to his father and an eloquent memoir of a moment in musical and social history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDetroit Free Press \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSancton, former Paris bureau chief for \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e, has written a lyrical memoir, \u003ci\u003eSong for My Fathers\u003c\/i\u003e, that re-creates a time and place and tells a poignant story about a father who was as difficult as he was lovable.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAustin Chronicle, \u003c\/b\u003eRobert Gabriel \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat kind of father encourages his white, preteen son to befriend elderly black men in barely desegregated New Orleans? As much a personal journey as a restoration of New Orleans music history, \u003ci\u003eSong for My Fathers\u003c\/i\u003e drenches itself in the sweat of a life spent riding the fence between patriarchal extremes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew Orleans Magazine \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Sancton's] character portraits of musicians are worth the price of the ticket...[George] Lewis is the subject of two biographies, long out of print. He comes alive in these pages as a gentle spirit in whom the student found a surrogate father. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSancton writes with clear-eyed honesty about the racial tensions present as segregation laws began crumbling in New Orleans during his teenage years. Yet his tone is anything but preachy; he doesn’t sentimentalize the struggle of musicians as they straddled the racial divide. He reports what he saw and remembered, treating the men (and pianist “Sweet Emma” Barrett) as artists, with all the complexities that the creative imagination carries. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTom Sancton’s account of George Lewis’s wake and funeral registers the heartbeat of New Orleans jazz with rare beauty. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePreserving the heritage will require the talents of both the musicians and the writers. In Sancton and in \u003ci\u003eSong for My Fathers\u003c\/i\u003e, both can be found.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Madison County Herald, \u003c\/b\u003eJC Patterson \u003cbr\u003eIf you're a fan of traditional New Orleans jazz, take a trip back in time to the heyday of Preservation Hall, from a novice insider whose intimate memories serve as wallpaper to some of the sweetest sounds and eclectic personalities in Big Easy history. \u003ci\u003eSong For My Fathers\u003c\/i\u003e is music for the soul.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMilwaukee Journal-Sentinel \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e...an evocative and luminous memoir...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew Orleans Times-Picayune Best of 2006\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eThe other work of nonfiction that captivated readers all over the city -- as well as the entering freshman class at Tulane University, for which it was required reading -- was \u003ci\u003eA Song for My Fathers: A New Orleans Story in Black and White\u003c\/i\u003e, by Tom Sancton, a beautifully written memoir of growing up in New Orleans in the '50s and learning to play the clarinet from \"the mens\" of Preservation Hall.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJazzBeat, \u003c\/b\u003ePaige VanVorst \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSancton is an excellent writer and the book gripped me like few books I've encountered lately – there are excellent profiles of a number of my idols – Creole George Guesnon, Punch Miller, George Lewis, Jim Robinson and Chester Zardis, filling in numerous details I've never seen in print before, providing a clear narrative of the Preservation Hall scene in the 1960s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTom Sancton has written a masterpiece – one of the most readable narratives on New Orleans jazz to come along in years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Progressive Christian, \u003c\/b\u003eJohn Winn \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[In \u003ci\u003eSong for My Fathers\u003c\/i\u003e] Narvin Kimball, a wonderful left-handed traditional jazz banjoist and singer, at age 90 said to... Tom, \"I want you to do something for me, young man. I want you to tell the people that you played with me when I was 90 years old, and I still have the beat. Tell them, please.\" He did. By doing so, he makes you want to tell your story, too.\u003cb\u003eTom Sancton \u003c\/b\u003egraduated from Harvard in 1971 and attended Oxford as a \u003cbr\u003eRhodes scholar. He is a former senior editor for \u003ci\u003eTime \u003c\/i\u003eand a contributor to such\u003cbr\u003epublications as \u003ci\u003eVanity Fair\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFortune\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNewsweek\u003c\/i\u003e, and the \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003eHe coauthored the international best seller \u003ci\u003eDeath of a Princess: The\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eInvestigation \u003c\/i\u003eand authored the novel \u003ci\u003eThe Armageddon Project\u003c\/i\u003e. A jazz performer\u003cbr\u003ein his own right, Sancton has toured extensively in Europe and has recorded\u003cbr\u003emore than a dozen albums, appearing alongside Woody Allen in the feature \u003cbr\u003efilm \u003ci\u003eWild Man Blues\u003c\/i\u003e. In 2007, Sancton was named Andrew W. Mellon Professor in\u003cbr\u003ethe Humanities at Tulane University, where he continues to teach advanced\u003cbr\u003ecourses in creative writing.They buried Papa Celestin on a raw winter day. It was early in the morning\u003cbr\u003ewhen the mourners started arriving at the funeral home on Louisiana Avenue.\u003cbr\u003eBy noon, five thousand people and two brass bands jammed the broad two-lane\u003cbr\u003ethoroughfare outside, waiting to take the great trumpeter on his last ride. Two\u003cbr\u003edozen motorcycle cops revved their engines, preparing to escort the cortege—\u003cbr\u003eand ready to deal with any violence if things got out of hand.\u003cbr\u003e   Inside the crowded funeral parlor, black friends and relatives of the fallen\u003cbr\u003ejazzman mingled with his many white admirers—among them, the mayor, a\u003cbr\u003econgressman, prominent businessmen, lawyers, university professors, socialites,\u003cbr\u003ewriters, journalists. There were few places in New Orleans where the races could\u003cbr\u003egather under one roof in those Jim Crow days: segregation was the law of the\u003cbr\u003eland in Louisiana. But they made an exception for Papa Celestin. Apart from\u003cbr\u003eLouis Armstrong, perhaps, he was the closest thing to a local hero that the city\u003cbr\u003ecould claim. President Eisenhower had even honored him at the White House\u003cbr\u003eand told him he was “a credit to his race.”\u003cbr\u003e   I was five years old and knew nothing about Papa Celestin. But there I was in\u003cbr\u003ethe middle of the pressing crowd, bundled up against the December wind and\u003cbr\u003eclutching my mother’s hand. Nearby, my father hovered protectively over my\u003cbr\u003esisters, Wendy, nine, and Beth, eight. Mother had questioned the wisdom of\u003cbr\u003ebringing us here, but my father had insisted. “In New Orleans,” he said, “a jazz\u003cbr\u003efuneral is a cultural event. These kids will be telling their grandchildren about\u003cbr\u003ethe day they buried the great Papa Celestin.”","brand":"Other Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305317322981,"sku":"NP9781590513767","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781590513767.jpg?v=1767736950","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/song-for-my-fathers-isbn-9781590513767","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}