In this unique book a late twentieth century poet and musician writes about one of the most enduring and influential members of midcentury's Beat Generation. Perhaps Jack Kerouac's most famous phrase is his description of his own writing as "spontaneous bop prosody," and Coolidge understands that prosody, the secret, still underground language of America. Nobody writes about Kerouac with such attention to his sound, and Coolidge's prose is as remarkable as Kerouac's. Simultaneously criticism and poetry, this is writing that returns the reader to the utter originality of Kerouac's improvisations ("blues/and haikoos"). Poet to poet, each listening to and hearing the life of the other, Coolidge and Kerouac breathe together in the poems of their prose.

Now It's Jazz includes an afterword by David Meltzer, poet and jazz anthologist, in whose correspondence with Coolidge many of these ideas first found expression. With the late Tina Meltzer on vibes, Clark (drums) and David (guitar) formed a trio known as Mix, successor to their 1960s band Serpent Power.