DRUMSTICKS

Sassy jazz saxophonist Nanette Hayes has not returned from Paris (Coq au Vin, 1998) in triumph. Her lover has ditched her, she’s broke with no gig in sight, and she’s boozing it up to beat the band. But when a pal gives her a voodoo doll for luck, her life perks up: Her drinking tapers off; money flows in; and she’s hired to fill in at a jazz club. In thanks, Nan invites the dollmaker, Ida Williams, to her opening night, but someone has nastier plans for poor Ida, who’s gunned down on the premises. Nan, in a final gesture of gratitude, wants to know why. Her search leads her to a rich kid turned rapper turned dead; his upscale black folks and his white girlfriend; a photograph of Ida with a mystery man; past and present con games; and, yes, much worse. Nan, her friend Aubrey with the bodacious ta-tas, campy Justin and his beloved boyfriend, and their hip-hop patter almost compensate for a plot that lumbers from coincidence to coincidence like a sloppy drunk in pursuit of a taxi. Nan deserves a better storyline, something on a par with her sax riffs.