High Times Hard Times

Celebrating Anita O'Day's 100th birthday anniversary, this classic and engaging memoir is a must read for anyone wanting a real look behind the scenes at the 'golden age' of jazz. The New York Times calls it, "a fascinating travelogue through the jazz world, filled with vivid images of Gene Krupa, Stan Kenton, Roy Eldridge, and Billie Holiday...Her prose is as hip as her music." O'Day was as well known for her drug problems as her jazz; and this candid memoir covers both in detail-starting out with her grisly 1966 overdose, then flashing back to tell all from the beginning. High Times Hard Times presents an intimate portrait of a larger-than-life jazz and big band singer-the success of her early career, the tragedy of heroin addiction, her painful recovery, and her ultimate triumph. An inspiring story. A real cut above the usual down-and-dirty music-and-drugs confession.