How did I stumble into reading three graphic novels about jazz saxophonists in a month when I don't even listen to jazz music regularly? This one falls blandly between the excellent Chasin' The Bird: Charlie Parker in California and the godawful Blue In Green.

Here our saxophonist is Miyamoto Dai, a Japanese teenager, who has decided to be the greatest jazz player in the world. Self-taught, he spends every spare minute of his days and nights practicing his sax on the banks of the Hirose River in Sendai or telling other people how much he loves jazz. And that's the first third of the book. Eventually he gets some chances to play in public. We're told that he's not a great technical player, but he has that certain something which can move certain listeners.

Slow-paced and low-key, this really drags over the course of 400 pages, though there are some nice character bits toward the very end.

I think this might have seemed more dramatic in Japan where a person boldly repeating out loud he is going to be the best at something may be considered a somewhat shocking breach of etiquette. ( )