Playing the Notes In-between – A Review of Jackie Kay’s Trumpet

by Chloe Pancho, “The Catch” Editor

Jackie Kay’s 1988 novel Trumpet is a tender and poignant exploration surrounding the

complexities of love, grief, and identity. At the very center of the story is Joss Moody, a wildly

renowned and celebrated Black Scottish jazz trumpet player whose sudden death exposes a

heavily guarded secret: though living his adult life as a man, Joss was assigned female at birth.

This revelation shatters the carefully constructed life that Joss created with his wife Millie and

their adopted son Colman, while simultaneously igniting distasteful public curiosity and

exploitation from the media. Through shifting perspectives and fragmented voices, Kay offers a

multifaceted mosaic on what it means to stay authentically yourself.

The characters all felt fully realized, Millie Moody, Joss’s widow,

providing some of the most resonant chapters. Her voice captures the

intimacy and rarity of their bond, portraying Joss not as a public figure or as a “scandal” but as

her life partner, her true love, and someone deserving of good experiences. For Millie, Joss’s

identity was never really one of deception but simply a part of the man that she loved. Joss and

Millie’s bond displayed a fruitful and loving relationship even under the scrutiny of social

pressures. Their relationship, while seemingly absurd to outsiders, was never depicted as

anything less domestic and beautifully mundane when compared to a more conventional couple.

In contrast, Colman, their son, initially responds to the news regarding his father with anger,

betrayal, and confusion. Feeling deceived by both of his parents, he lashes out in destructive

ways, including completely cutting ties with his mother and even collaborating with a

sensationalist journalist who aims to expose Joss’s life and trauma for profit. Colman’s chapters,

though quite abrasive and difficult at times to get through, gives the novel a raw and turbulent

energy, capturing a painful collision between the tenderness that Millie holds towards Joss.

Yet as the story progresses, we find Colman beginning to reconcile with his father’s identity,

moving from the initial resentment towards a more mature and nuanced understanding. His arc

not only was able to demonstrate the important understanding that prejudice is never inherent but

instead taught. But also how relating narratives surrounding masculinity, family, and authenticity

can and should be challenged and reshaped.

Some of my favorite chapters from the novel included interludes from local reporters, funeral

directors, and others whose lives intersected with Joss’s, no matter how seemingly brief. On one

hand, these secondary voices further emphasize the voyeuristic nature of the public gaze, as

some outsiders simply reduce Joss to an object of obscurity. While on the other hand, we get to

see Joss’s personhood be properly depicted from perspectives other than Millie’s. Whether it be

from one of Joss’s past lovers or a close member from his jazz band, Kay is able to critique

societies quickness to negativity.

Ultimately, Jackie Kay’s Trumpet is a compassionate novel that explores what it means to live

authentically and to love unconditionally. It honors the complexity of identity while critiquing

the societal structures that demand such rigid structures. At its heart, the novel is less about

Joss’s secret and more about the enduring presence of love, memory, and music that shape

people’s lives. With its rhythmic rose, shifting perspectives, and thoroughly explored themes,

Trumpet stands as a profound and resonant work of contemporary literature that actively

challenges the views of not only its readers but society as a whole.