Tony Sanchez: Trumpet Songs

Tony Sanchez is ready to leave the peanut farm and make it as a professional trumpet player. His teacher, Stan Bortowsky, has done his best to prepare Tony for the competitive world of professional music, hoping Tony will give New York or Chicago a chance, but Tony, afraid of Anglos, takes his father's advice and catches aflatcar south to Mexico.

In Mexico Tony discovers Mariachi music and Frances, a sensuous young singer who auditions for him. Frances cannot compete with Tony's love aff air with the old tarnished trumpet and gives Tony an ultimatum; her or the trumpet. He chooses the trumpet, leaves Frances, and travels back to New Orleans where he gets his first taste of Jazz. He follows the American music scene as it moves to Kansas City, Chicago, New York, and eventually the west coast. He meets and performs with many of the best players and with the most popular bands of the ti mes. But, success and love eludes him, and in the end, he has only his trumpet, and the memories of a career and a woman he could never keep.