I finally found the time to sit down and read Michael Ondaatje’s Coming Through Slaughter. Wow! What a fantastic read.

Set at the turn of the century, the Storyville district of New Orleans had some 2000 prostitutes, 70 professional gamblers, and 3 piano players. But it had only one man who played the cornet like Buddy Bolden — who cut his hair by day at N. Joseph’s Shaving Parlor, and at night played jazz, unleashing an unforgettable wildness and passion in crowded rooms.

“Perhaps the finest jazz novel ever written.” — The Sunday Times

Need I say more? Get it here.