I am grateful to have known the three people most important to the existence of this book: Paul Elie, who signed it up and championed it; Alex Star, who took it over and got all the way in; and Zoe Pagnamenta, my agent—for nearly half my life. Thank you.
Nik Cohn and Allaudin Mathieu heard about this for years before I let them read it. Their insight, skepticism, and encouragement have been crucial.
Thank you to Harold Bott, Jon Caramanica, Nate Chinen, Eric Chinski, Mark Christman, Christopher Dunn (regarding Sonny Carr), Gary Heidt (regarding Curtis Mayfield), Harmony Holiday, Charles Keil, J. D. King, Susie Linfield, Tom McDermott, Sia Michel, Hankus Netsky, Jon Pareles, Carla Parisi, Marcus Ratliff Sr. and Jr., Michael Robbins, Rob Saffer, Hank Shteame, Ben Sisario, Declan Spring, Peter Watrous.