Art Pepper (19251982) was called the greatest alto saxophonist of the post-Charlie Parker generation. But his autobiography, Straight Life , is much more than a jazz bookit is one of the most explosive, yet one of the most lyrical, of all autobiographies. This edition is updated with an extensive a[...]

Pepper refuses to tiptoe round many of the unpalatable episodes of a life that involved alcoholism, heroin addiction, armed robberies and five of what should have been his most productive years imprisoned in San Quentin. This story is an autobiography like no other, a masterpiece of the spoken word,[...]