I am a voracious reader of jazz biographies. The fact that the name of this book includes the phrase "The Life of Dizzy Gillespie" is a shame, or sham. There is so little of his life in this book and so much discecting of every note of every solo that he ever played. It's maddening! If you're looking for a great jazz biography that is full of color, try the Louis Armstrong "An Extravagent Life" book. I read this approx. 600 page book twice just because it is such a colorful story about a jazz musicians LIFE. I will finish off by saying that this book is only the second one in my life that I had to stop reading because it was so BAD. That was after 250 pages.