Article posted: 1/2/2013 6:00 AM

Novel draws on jazz legend’s music

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"Tiger Rag" by Nicholas Christopher

ASSOCIATED PRESS/THE DIAL PRESS

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Buddy Bolden is a jazz legend whose powerful, original sound at the turn of the last century was so enthralling that some now call him the first big star of that lively American art form. But his own star died quickly. Nicholas Christopher, in his new novel, "Tiger Rag," brings Bolden back to life, full of outsize charm and drive, a virtuoso on his beloved cornet, but quickly losing his mental grip — and ending at the center of a full-blown mystery.