Bill Babcock has a painful injury which he can tell no one about. The reader feels at once sympathetic and tickled. With the promise of a treat from a friend, Bejingles, rain foils the whole pleasure. The poignant story of Bill and his pet, an infant owl. Bill Babcock is stunned and thunderstruck by information given to him by a lady he admires. Bill's experiences in Sunday School are good in extracurricular activities and terrible in attendance. Jake, Bill's brother, seen at his aggravating best. A fishing trip is almost fatal for Bill Babcock. Bill is what is called "air-minded" and the comedy team of Laurel and Hardy make an unexpected appearance. Bill and Jake are quarantined and live elsewhere and get in the worst trouble of their lives. Not fully understanding the trolley system, Bill has to walk ten miles to get home and becomes lost. The most poignant chapter as Bill and friends encounter a pair of cruel teenagers.

Marsgal Royal was a core member of the Count Basei Orchestra for twenty years during its resurgence in the 1950s and 1960s. Before that, he was a pioneer of jazz on the West Coast, playing with many bands in and around Los Angeles. A child prodigy of both the violin and saxophone, Royal was literally born on the road as his musician parents made their way West. Royal shares his experiences with Les Hite's band at Sebastian's New Cotton Club, where 's Orchestra after a wartime career in U.S. Navy bands. After leaving Hampton, Royal made countless recordings as a freelancer before joining Basie, where he was responsible for rehearsing the Orchestra. Later, he became internationally known as a soloist while continuing his prolific recording career. His brother, Ernie, who was a star trumpeter in the bands of Woody Herman and Stan Kenton, is also profiled. Claire P. Gordon is the editor of Rex Stewart's memoir, Boy Meets Horn, and of Stewart's other collections of writings. She lives on the West Coast and has a long-term interest in the oral history of jazz.

The richest place in America's musical landscape is that fertile ground occupied by jazz. Scott DeVeaux takes a central chapter in the history of jazz—the birth of bebop—and shows how our contemporary ideas of this uniquely American art form flow from that pivotal moment. At the same time, he provides an extraordinary view of the United States in the decades just prior to the civil rights movement. DeVeaux begins with an examination of the Swing Era, focusing particularly on the position of African American musicians. He highlights the role played by tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, a "progressive" committed to a vision in which black jazz musicians would find a place in the world commensurate with their skills. He then looks at the young musicians of the early 1940s, including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Thelonious Monk, and links issues within the jazz world to other developments on the American scene, including the turmoil during World War II and the pervasive racism of the period. Throughout, DeVeaux places musicians within the context of their professional world, paying close attention to the challenges of making a living as well as of making good music. He shows that bebop was simultaneously an artistic movement, an ideological statement, and a commercial phenomenon. In drawing from the rich oral histories that a living tradition provides, DeVeaux's book resonates with the narratives of individual lives. While The Birth of Bebop is a study in American cultural history and a critical musical inquiry, it is also a fitting homage to bebop and to those who made it possible.

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