The Perfect Tuba - by Sam Quinones (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

From National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Sam Quinones, the story of a demanding instrument, the determined people who play it, and the hope they offer a fractured nation.

"[A] delightfully offbeat book with unexpectedly profound overtones."-The Wall Street Journal

The tuba's sound is mighty, emerging, it seems, from deep in the human body. Very little music has, up until recently, been written to play to its strengths. The best the tuba seems to promise is a seat at the back of the band. No stadium shows, no Internet adulation. And yet, this horn-the youngest of all brass instruments-has captured the hearts of an inspired group of musicians ever since its invention in 1835.

In The Perfect Tuba, Sam Quinones embarks on a trek to get to know American tubists. He tells the astounding stories of two men who set out to replicate the "perfect tuba," an instrument made by York & Sons in the 1930s and never since equaled; of Big Bill Bell, whose 1950s album rearranged the tuba landscape; and of Arnold Jacobs, a tuba guru at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who studied the physiology of breathing and offered rune-like nuggets of wisdom to his legions of students. Quinones also takes us through the tuba scenes of New Orleans, Orlando, Knoxville, New York City, and, most importantly, Roma, Texas, a dusty town in the Rio Grande Valley where a visionary high school marching band director fashioned a program that now regularly wins state championships and sends its students off to college.

After nearly a decade on the front lines of America's battle with drug addiction, Sam Quinones delivers another story of our nation, this time brought together by the transformative power of shared joy and humble achievement.

Review Quotes

". . . perhaps the best reason to read The Perfect Tuba is for Mr. Quinones's winning point of view, which might be distilled to this: Life gains part of its significance from striving toward a goal; from clearing away distraction and concentrating hard on something good; from extending your reach-and remembering what that feels like, so that you can continue to extend yourself, throughout your life, toward other things worth reaching for. When Sam Quinones wraps up his book by telling us to 'work to discover your own perfect tuba, ' I take him to imply, 'whatever it may be.'" --John Check, The Wall Street Journal

"Riveting . . . Quinones, who was bummed out by the bleak reporting he had to do for his award-winning book about the opiate epidemic, Dreamland, responded by pivoting to something kinder and more life-affirming . . . The Perfect Tuba is packed with intriguing factoids . . . Quinones is a terrific reporter . . . That meticulousness is the only way a book gets all of those totally tubular nuggets." --The Minnesota Star Tribune

"I loved this book . . . This story fascinated me from page one and never let up, and by the end I felt uplifted. Technically speaking, there's no such thing as a perfect tuba. But perfection isn't the point of the story Sam Quinones tells so masterfully: purpose is the point. The Perfect Tuba is about what happens when we find something we can devote our creative energy to achieving." --California Review of Books

"[A]n eclectic and affectionate ode to the tuba and those who devote their lives to it . . . Quinones finds in the tuba and those who play it a surprisingly moving symbol of tenacity in today's hectic, destabilizing world . . . Attesting to the tuba's central place in American music, this exuberant love letter resonates" --Publishers Weekly

"The Perfect Tuba is Sam Quinones' joyful celebration of the titular horn and a moving tribute to the communities that form around it." --BookPage, "Best Books of 2025"

"Fascinating, often moving ... The Perfect Tuba will prompt readers to cheer ... Mission harmoniously, joyfully accomplished." --BookPage, Starred Review

"Quinones reflects on the musical instrument, its sound, players, and culture." --Library Journal

"Inspiring . . . focuses on the players, makers, instructors and innovators who elevate the big brass instrument that provides the ballast to marching bands and orchestras across the nation." --The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Sam Quinones is one of my favorite writers. No matter the topic, his storytelling pulls you in! Also, he uses commas in all the right places, which I find very soothing." --Molly Shannon, SNL alum and author of HELLO, MOLLY

"The Perfect Tuba is a delightful jaunt through the history of this ungainly, thoroughly demanding instrument and the quirky, lovable folks who play it. With this book, Quinones reminds us to look to outsiders who show us how to forge inspiration from persistence and hard work. I was especially moved by Tuba Fats and Linda Young and could have read a whole book about those two." --Anna Lembke, New York Times bestselling author of DOPAMINE NATION

"In this fascinating and deeply enriching book, Quinones turns an everyday instrument into a window into American life today. Against a tide of addiction and distraction, The Perfect Tuba finds the people striving, with discomfort and devotion, back toward resilience, meaning, and community." --Michael Easter, New York Times bestselling author of THE COMFORT CRISIS

"Sam tells stories of priceless treasures, selfless dedication, long-term collaboration, transcendent meaning and human excellence. You read that right, all this is in a book about the tuba." --Lucas Cantor, two-time Emmy Award winning composer and author of UNFINISHED: THE ROLE OF THE ARTIST IN AN AGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

"An instrument produces more than a sound. In the right circumstance, as Sam Quinones convincingly demonstrates in his wonderfully engaging book, an instrument calls forth a community. By association the most ignoble and clumsy horn, butt of innumerable fat jokes, so unwieldy that it often obscures its handler, the tuba is in fact not only the anchor of music in diverse genres, it's the central node in a web of extraordinary individuals whose storylines Quinones masterfully follows, uncovering a surprising undercurrent of optimism, commitment, and self-determination." --John Corbett, author of PICK UP THE PIECES: Excursions in Seventies Music

About the Author