Alley Cat Strut Oscar Holden

True to Holden’s real-life reputation as a "powerhouse player" with a stride piano style similar to Fats Waller, the piece is typically performed with a swinging, rhythmic drive.

is a fictional record created for the book, it serves as a powerful symbol of the enduring connection between the protagonists, Henry and Keiko, during World War II . alley cat strut oscar holden

By sixteen he’d scavenged a trumpet with one stubborn valve and taught himself phrasing from the street—emulating the tilt of a lamplight, the skitter of a rat, the sigh of a delivery truck. He gave himself the nickname “Alley Cat” because he moved like one: cautious, curious, and limber enough to vanish between fences. The name stuck after a raucous night in 1978 when he sat on a milk crate outside the diner and played through a thunderstorm. People left tips and stories at his feet; someone hung a neon sign that read ALLEY CAT above the crate for a week. True to Holden’s real-life reputation as a "powerhouse