Description Art Pepper (1925-1982) was called the greatest alto saxophonist of the post-Charlie Parker generation. But his autobiography, Straight Life, is much more than a jazz book-it is one of the most explosive, yet one of the most lyrical, of all autobiographies. This edition is updated with an extensive afterword by Laurie Pepper covering Art Pepper's last years, and a complete and up-to-date discography by Todd Selbert. http://www.perseusbooksgroup.com/features/jazz/
”The most powerful, mind-riveting, brutally honest document I’ve ever read by an artist.” ”I picked up the book and couldn’t put it down until I was finished. It was a harrowing and eye-opening experience.” ”A shattering portrait of genius confronted with human weakness . . . possibly the best memoir ever written by a jazz musician. . . . Pepper has a keen eye for the people around him—his chapters about life at Synanon ought to be required reading for those interested in the growth of cults—and no desire at all to spare himself. . . . The whole is told in a matter-of-fact prose quite free of self-pity, and the effect is tremendous. . . . A story that ranks with The Autobiography of Malcolm X in its direct honesty and power.” ”Straight Life demonstrates again and again that Pepper has the ear and memory and interpretive lyricism of a first-rate novelist. . . . He did five years in San Quentin and his descriptions of life there are relentless and brilliant.… He is an eloquent and gifted man.” ”A tough, dizzying, hard, and honest book that will haunt anybody who opens it.” |
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