Adam Reeves - The Don Drummond Story: Trombone Man GRAPHIC NOVEL

Description:
Trombone Man is a seven-part comic book series from Independent comics press, Hearsay, about the life and times of Jamaican trombonist Don Drummond, a founder member of 1960s ska-jazz pioneers, the Skatalites. It features a script by English writer and publisher Adam Reeves, who previously co-wrote Alpha Boys School: Cradle of Jamaican Music, along with US ska historian Heather Augustyn, about the musical school run by Roman Catholic nuns that Don Drummond attended. It features digital illustrations by Cypriot artist Constantinos Pissourios, who specialises in creating tributes to stars of Jamaican music and sound system culture.

Issue #1, Barefoot Boy, was crowdfunded via Kickstarter in November 2022 and was printed in February 2024. These copies are from the limited edition first print run of just 750 and are all signed and numbered by writer/publsher Adam Reeves. Trombone Man is an adaptation of Heather Augustyn's 2013 biography, Don Drummond: The Genius and Tragedy of the World's Greatest Trombonist. The first issue sees young Don skipping school and running wild on the streets of Kingston and finding himself of the wrong side of the law. Placed by the courts into the strict care of the nuns at Alpha Boys School, an entire new musical life opens up to him.

Mixing social history, biography and magical realism, Trombone Man transports the reader to the world of Jamaican in the 1940s, '50s and '60s and the golden age of Jamaican jazz, rhythm & blues and the birth of ska. The original Skatalites broke up after just eighteen months due to Don Drummond's mental health deterioration and his incarceration for the murder of his lover, renowned stage dancer Margarita Mahfood.

Format: full size
Year of publication: 2024
Number of pages: 44