Baldwin Trail

Please read this biography of Baldwin provided by the PBS American Masters series.

This is the full text of James Baldwin's short story "Sonny's Blues" in pdf form.

Please read the entire story.

If you have difficulty viewing the page, click the link for the page in its original context (seen near the top of this page or on the Trailfire page).

A very short history of bebop from HyperMusic, a site that appear to be made by folks who are just fans of music (and want to make money from ads).

As a follower of Charlie Parker, bebop would be the style of jazz Sonny is playing.

This is a site put up by a fan of Parker's music. I can't vouch for the information here, but scroll below the picture and listen to the songs linked there (I suggest "Lester Leaps In" to start with). There are also many pictures here. (Note: I've had trouble with the sound files on this page.)

This site offers a night view of one of the primary areas where jazz clubs were located in New York City during this period; this is part of a site that has tons of photos (taken by Down Beat writer William Gottlieb) of the jazz scene in the 40's and gives you a real feel for it. If you have RealAudio, you can click on the Realaudio icons to hear the photographer discuss the pictures.

This page was built for an AP English course in Jazz and Literature by the instructors Anne Fleischmann and Andy Jones. If there is anything you didn't understand about "Sonny's Blues", you can probably find the answer on this page.