What kind of music do your characters listen to? Novelist Michael Connelly has created a dark and inspiring soundtrack over the course of his career.
At a Sony Readers Book Club event in Los Angeles, Connelly explained that he was inspired by musicians “who had a difficult time making music.” As an example, he mentioned how his long-time character Harry Bosch listened to Art Pepper, a great jazz saxophonist who struggled with drug addiction and a troubled family history.
If you want to sample his writing music playlist, we’ve included a free Spotify playlist below of Connelly’s literary soundtrack. Connelly concluded: “Music is one of the things that helps me. If there is music playing in my book, that music was playing when I wrote it.”
Michael Connelly Spotify Playlist
John Coltrane Quartet – Soul Eyes
Wayne Shorter – 502 Blues (Drinkin’ And Drivin’)
Frank Morgan – Lullaby
Billy Strayhorn – Lush LIfe
Clifford Brown – Willow Weep For Me
Louis Armstrong – What A Wonderful World
Art Pepper – Straight LIfe
Art Pepper – You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To
Chet Baker – My Funny Valentine
Miles Davis – Freddie Freeloader
Thelonious Monk Quartet – Evidence (Live At Carnegie Hall)
Miles Davis – All Blues
Ron Carter – Seven Steps To Heaven
George Cables – Helen’s song
Art Pepper – Patricia
Art Pepper – Over The Rainbow
Danny Grissett – Let’s Face the Music and Dance
Once you have an account, check out our Haruki Murakami Spotify playlist, our Patti Smith Spotify playlist, our Geoff Dyer Spotify playlist, our James Ellroy Spotify playlist and our Best Writing Music of 2012 list.