Robert Kraut in “Jazz and Language” explores the question of whether jazz music can be considered a language. He quotes the jazz musician Martino who states: “Music is a language like any other language” (202). He says that jazz performances have a conversational or “dialogical” quality (205). Jazz and Blues has no words to describe the meaning or statement, instead evoking aesthetic emotions when listening to the genre. The interaction of jazz musicians is a collaborative communication of speech through jazz music. A jazz drummer like Max Roach, said “at the first note, you respond to what you have just played: you have just said that on your instrument, and now it is a constant” (202). The unnamed narrator finds his brother Sonny incarcerated for heroin use and trafficking, raised in a society where the fear of fear constantly affects their tormented lives. “He scared me a little” (Baldwin 19). Fear drove the older brother to become an algebra teacher, striving to save his younger brother from a street lifestyle, influenced specifically by drug addiction. According to the narrator, he expects Sonny to follow in his footsteps to finish his studies because "if you don't finish your studies now, you will later regret not having done so" (Baldwin 20), in addition the narrator describes Sonny's life as "weird and messy" (Baldwin 21). The narrator uses his fear to establish communication with his brother, but Sonny's decision to become a professional musician and escape unhappy times is not in communion. Thus, Sonny feels neglected by his older brother's expectations and judgments based on his own future. “I think people...... middle of paper......aldwin 27). Fingers dancing on the piano keys resonate flashbacks of adversity in the narrator's soul as he listens to Sonny play. “I saw my mother's face again and I felt, for the first time, how much the stones of the path on which she had walked must have bruised her feet. I saw my little girl again, and I felt Isabel’s tears again, and I felt my own tears begin to come” (Baldwin 27). By truly listening to his younger brother and observing his performances with professionals, Sonny completes part of his older brother's legacy, overcoming life's tragic moments and those to come, with his musical talents in Jazz and Blues . More importantly, the influence of Jazz and Blues that Sonny cherished provided "dialogical" definitions of undefined conversations about the relationship between their brotherhood and their own individual lives..: 733