Letters I Never Mailed: Clues to a Life, by Alec Wilder, in a new, annotated edition with introduction and supplementary material by David Demsey, foreword by jazz pianist Marian McPartland, and photographs by Louis Ouzer.

Alec Wilder is a rare example of a composer who established a reputation both as a prolific composer of concertos, sonatas, and operas, and as a popular songwriter (including the oft-recorded “I’ll Be Around”). His music has been recorded by Tony Bennett, Billie Holiday, Keith Jarrett, Charlie Parker and, curiously, conducted by Frank Sinatra.

He was fearsomely articulate, and had a wide and varied circle of friends, ranging from Graham Greene to Frank Sinatra and Stan Getz. Letters I Never Mailed tells the story of Wilder’s musical and personal life through “letters” addressed to various friends. In it, he shares his insights – and sometimes salty opinions – on composing, musical life, and the tension between art and commercialism. This new edition leaves Wilder’s original text intact but decodes its mysteries through an Annotated Index that identifies the letters’ addressees and a fascinating introductory essay.




DAVID DEMSEY is professor of music and coordinator of jazz studies at William Paterson University and an active jazz and classical saxophonist. He is co-author of Alec Wilder: A Bio-Bibliography (Greenwood Press) and has contributed to The Oxford Companion to Jazz.

15 black & white illustrations
336 pages, Size: 9 x 6 in
ISBN: 978 158046 2082
Binding: Hardback
Publication date: 30/Oct/2005
Price: $29.95 / £19.99