One of the most amazing life stories and a helluva Memoir.
For those that don't know, alto saxophonist, Pepper played with greats blike Benny Carter/Stan Kenton but then went out on his own solo career. One of the most acclaimed musicians he became addicted to heroin and during the 60's, served a few jail sentences for crimes such as robbery/drugs/etc. Pepper's wife wrote his biography entitled "Straight Life." that Art discusses his life and others would chime in often contradicting him. Pepper talks about a lot of ugly stuff such as his is time spent in Folson/San Quentin and then getting out and playing at a top jazz club or making a record date. Synanon got him straight but he had some serious issues with that organization.
The recording session for Straight Life with the Miles Davis group was typical. His wife and producer didn't tell him about it until a few hours beforehand. He had to walk into the studio cold with no music and play with the best jazz musicians at the time. Out of it came an amazing recording session. All of it off the fly. Genius.
One of the reasons why Pepper would have to serve prison time is that he refused to roll over or snitch. As such, he couldn't get a deal like other big names that would get popped for drugs back then.
The memoir is scathing -mostly on himself. Brutally honest.