The Magic Inside Music

One evening at a neighborhood barbecue in the summer of 1968 I learned how to dance The Monkey. I also tried out my hips and skinny torso very publicly doing The Twist. I was 10-years-old and fully captured by rock 'n' roll that night. I will admit right here that the kid who taught me The Monkey was a seven-year-old girl.

The point is that I learned that I could feel music everywhere in my body all at once that night. Something very special had occurred.

But how and why was music so overpowering and connective?

By 17 I was on the hunt for novels that would give me stories and insights into the meaning and magic of the blues, jazz, R&B, and rock 'n' roll. Those art forms were just too profound to be ignored by storytellers as we all began to move from one century to the next.

I found little of use along those lines, though. Lots of heartbreak stories popped up everywhere about the rise and fall of stars and bands, but hardly any fiction about the impact of music on human emotion and its potential to shape consciousness.

What is it Toni Morrison said?

"If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."

That's what I did over a number of years with Sound Effect Infinity through many iterations. And now it's here.

Thanks for reading.