"A well-paced and gripping narrative" -- Professor Ajay Heble , School of English and Theatre Studies, University of Guelph "The author's thoughtful rendering of dialect accurately captures the vernacular of the era, lending an authenticity that draws the reader in." -- Andrea Kortenhoven , PhD Linguistics, Alumna, Stanford University "A well-paced and gripping narrative that excels not only at capturing the young protagonist's deep love of, and commitment to, jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden's music, but also at offering us a powerful, and often very moving, account of some of the kinds of struggles, particularly around issues of race and class, that would have been part of the context of the day for a young boy, like Sterling, growing up in New Orleans." -- Professor Ajay Heble , School of English and Theatre Studies, University of Guelph; Director, International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation; Artistic Director Emeritus and Founding Artistic Director (1994-2016), The Guelph Jazz Festival "Of a time and place, not only of a culture. the story is convincing and respectful of the characters and their humanity." -- Chris Benjamin , Managing Editor, Atlantic Books Today ; Canada Reads Top Essential Books list, Author of Drive By Saviours , winner of the H.R. Percy Prize.