Improvising Through Life

Josh Martin is a gifted jazz pianist who can sit at a Bösendorfer and follow a musical idea where it wants to go. Onstage, he trusts instinct, rhythm, and risk itself. In life, he is far less fluent. He meets Lydia: a singer, a lover, a muse, a comic tormentor, and a test he keeps failing. Together they build a relationship out of musical connection, sexual intensity, arguments no one can win, and mutual exasperation.

The Improviser is a comedic anti-romance about a man who can invent greatness at the piano in front of thousands, but can't quite figure out how to live with Lydia, or anyone else, once the music stops.

Written by an Improviser

Josh Martin's gift at the piano isn't an invented premise for Marks; it's rooted in the same methodology Marks has used in his own musical life. His two Piano Method books teach exactly the kind of chord-and-scale-based improvisation Josh performs onstage in the novel. The books focus on improvisation theory and modern harmony.

The Improviser takes that methodology, and the natural gift Josh has, and shows what happens once the stage lights are turned off and there's no instrument left to hide behind.

There are other notable characters in the book. Among them are Katrina, a singer with no last name; Ali Jain, a wise young drummer; and the book's antagonist, Jaylon Sanchez. They all have their moments stepping into the spotlight. But the show belongs to Josh and Lydia.

As usual in a Gary Marks novel, the ending is wild, as Josh improvises a plan to get back at Lydia that's completely out of touch, and out of time. He finds himself in the only place where he is truly comfortable and at peace: following unknown paths in the world of sound.

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