The details of this extraordinary life provide a great read about a crazy time in South African and American history.
Impressive story about an unusual jazz musician; lenghty details about the 30 wasted (booze, drugs and women) years, not so many comments on particular compositions or songs; strong personal but wise view on the still present apartheid monster; reads like a movie;.
There is so much information throughput in each page that it can be a bit overwhelming to take all in. It is incredible just how good jazz musician's memories are, guess that is one of the things that makes they great.
The last Biography i read that was this good was the Malcom X one. The book reads like a work of fiction, even if you arent a fan of the mans music, i urge you to read the book and learn something from his experiences.
This is on a par with David Crosby's no-holds-barred autobiography, but, for me, way better, because he's South African, and so it's not just the story of a roller-coaster musical life, but also the story of how apartheid repeatedly fucked people up the ass with no lubrication. And despite all that, guys like Hugh pulled through, and then returned here to try to rebuild things.
