Blue Notes Under A G

This aptly titled novel portrays a year in the life of Myron Klein, jazz enthusiast and hat salesman extraordinaire. It's 1947, and Myron's hatmaker father has sent him back on the road to boost plummeting sales in the South. Myron hates the idea of forsaking Manhattan's jazz and nonstop sex, but it's only for a few months--and he is able to drive down with a blues singer whom he regards as a future superstar of jazz. After their picaresque trip, Myron returns to New York to learn that his domineering parents want him to build sales in California. But he's had enough of his father's business, so instead Myron opens a store in Harlem, to promote his first two loves--hats and music. (He serves the ends of his third love generously with willing women.) Colorful characters, New York in the '40s and ``bebop'' make this novel a treat. Ritz, a composer, wrote The Man Who Brought the Dodgers Back to Brooklyn. (May)