Book excerpt: Tom Cliffe is who many young people in the 1960s want to be: not just a lover of music, a player of music. But more than an interest, more than a passion, music and a commitment to becoming an accomplished player and recognized for it will become the driving force in Tom's life. He will give up everything, all the accommodations of the conventional life he was brought up in and educated for. Even when he is nearly destitute, even through years of itinerancy on the road, despite self-interested booking agents and uncommitted fellow musicians, even for the woman he loves, he cannot, will not, abandon Music.The Musician captures the character and circumstance of life as shared by musicians everywhere, from immersion in their craft, to the joy of playing music well, and with others who play it as well or better, to the frustrations associated with committing a lifetime to such an unstructured and unrewarded career."True, endearing, joyful, and at times disheartening, The Musician is an unvarnished look at what most musicians encounter when they choose to follow their dreams. It is an important as well as entertaining book reflecting the reality of how rare it is to achieve celebrity in any profession." Ralph Miriello - Huffington Post columnist, Notes on Jazz blogger, voting member of the Jazz Journalists Association "Some of the best writing about music and musicians. Like all good fiction, The Musician is rooted in fact - often enough, hard, cold facts." Kevin Bales - Internationally renowned jazz pianist and teacher