The first installment in the long-awaited portrait of one of the most talented and influential musicians of the twentieth century. Charlie Parker personified the tortured American artist: a revolutionary performer who used his alto saxophone to create a new music known as bebop even as he wrestled with a drug addiction that would lead to his death at 34. With the wisdom of a jazz scholar, the cultural insights of a social critic, and the narrative...

This revised edition of Ian Carr's biography "sheds new light on Davis' life and career: from the early days in New York with Charlie Parker; to the Birth of Cool; through his drug addiction in the early 1950s and the years of extraordinary achievements (1954-1960), during which he signed with Columbia and collaborated with such unequaled talents as John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly and Cannonball Adderly. Carr also explores Davis' dark, reclusive...

A brief recounting of the career of this jazz musician and composer who, along with his orchestra, created music that was beyond category.

The definitive account of Louis Armstrong--his life and legacy--during the most creative period of his career.

"An autobiography of one of the towering figures of contemporary American music and a powerful meditation on history, race, capitalism and art"--