In “The Invisible Music of Ralph Ellison,” Andrew Radford presents compelling evidence, in Raritan (Summer 2003 (Vol. 23 Issue 1)), that in Invisible dude, Ralph Ellison uses musical terms to argue that survival depends on self-invention. As Ellison scholars, we must also remember that Ellison was originally a jazz player and went to school to become a musician. Radford brilliantly reinforces his point with quotes from several books and interviews with Ellison to argue that jazz and musical references show that survival depends on self-invention. Radford begins his argument by pointing out how, in the story, the "skewed sense of time" (p. 40) resembles the way jazz musicians have an asymmetrical sense of tempo. Radford then brilliantly highlights how this ability to sense the music and tempo of life adds a particular dynamic to the protagonist, “compelling but mysterious” (p. 40). Radford then brings us to the fact that jazz musicians use improvisation with, for example, tempo, which Ellison once said in an interview that Invisible man is "endless improvisation on traditional materials." (p. 41) As scholars of Ellison, we must remember that music, like books, gains meaning through personal experiences, and that many of the things Ellison wrote about were very close to those he experienced. Radford then continues his great argument by talking about the invisible. man's distinct strategy for distinguishing between the manifesto and the convert. He also discusses how the Invisible Man managed to name himself "Jack-The-Bear" (p. 42) after an improviser "Covert" in 1930s Harlem, but his name later served as the title of the one of Duke Ellington's greatest "Overts". “successes” (p.42). Next, Radford talks about how the medium of paper invented your own person by illuminating the many parallels used throughout the prologue and epilogue. We must remember that Ralph Ellison uses jazz, one of the things he knows best in his stories, as well as his past experiences, to create a feeling of "improvisation" in The Invisible Man and many of his other stories. We must remember that it is difficult to become attached to something without a name. Ralph Ellison created a well-crafted book through his ability to draw from his past experiences and create this nameless character that everyone can relate to, who is trying to create their identity, and Radford illuminates that directly. Works Cited Radford, Andrew. “The Invisible Music of Ralph Ellison.” Raritan 23.1 (2003): 39-62. OmniFileFull Text Select (HW Wilson). Internet. March 17, 2014. Ellison, Ralph. The invisible man. New York: Vintage International, 1995. Print.