THE HIGH SPIRITS <i> by David Huddle (David R. Godine: $17.95; 259 pp.) </i>

David Huddle’s stories describe intricate and binding relationships that his characters seem to be only dimly conscious of. The title story is told by a saxophone player, Bill, in a band called the High Spirits. It is a terrible band, by the narrator’s account: “The kind of parties we played for were usually ones where nobody danced for the first two sets. When people finally did start dancing it was often because they didn’t want to have to sit there defenselessly while we slaughtered their favorite tunes.” Bill is perplexed by the devotion Richard, the band’s manager, seems to show to the group, and he is suspicious when Richard arranges a date for him with a beautiful girl. Slowly Bill discovers that there are more links among the players and the girls than he had imagined. His entire view of his band is finally shattered when they call on him to save a buddy in trouble. “God, Freddy, I didn’t know you had this loyalty to the band,” he says. “Everyone in the car stared out the windows away from me. Finally Marshall spoke up. ‘We all have it, Bill.’ He then said very softly, after a significant pause, ‘Except you.’ ”