The Chronicle Review

Pimp My Memoir: Jazz Autobiographies' Tricked-Out Personae

January 06, 2006 Premium content for subscribers. Subscribe Today

"Writers are always selling somebody out," wrote Joan Didion. When it comes to jazz autobiography, Didion's maxim is not just a metaphor. Jazz may not have actually been born in the red-light district of Storyville, but it certainly flourished there...