On Christmas day, 1954, backstage at the Civic Auditorium in Houston, Texas, blues balladeer, songwriter, and pianist Johnny Ace flirted with death and lost, shooting himself in the head while playing Russian roulette. Ace was at the peak of his brief musical career. In two years, he had scored six hits, two of them reaching number one on the Billboard R&B chart, and Cash Box magazine had named him the "Top Rhythm and Blues Singer of 1953." Shocked by his violent death, Ace's fans and his colleagues in the music industry searched for an explanation. The musician had everything to live for, yet made his demise his legacy. While no one will ever know why he committed suicide, his plaintive melodies and vocal delivery conjure associations filled with pathos.

Ace's musical style, like that of many other Rhythm and Blues artists, was eclectic, drawing from...