One of the most interesting and unusual Jazz autobiographies. Mingus was a fascinating artist who was angry about jazz music's lack of dignity in the american mainstream culture of his era. His prose is unencumbered by literary style yet thoughtful, even philosophical. his choice of subject matter skews heavily towards two subjects: his sexual relationships and his unhappiness about the music business.

The historical veracity of his narrative is, at many points, questionable. Certain scenes and events do not correlate with established timelines. However, poetic license can be given since there is honesty and conviction in his presentation. The real life characters he writes about, his contemporaries, seem to be truthully portrayed up to a point. If you are familliar with Jazz music history, you should be able to seperate the fact from the fiction. For the less knowledgable reader: I recommend careful fact checking.

As an unflinching psychological self portrait and a love letter to the artform of jazz, it is excellent.