Monk
I find Monk, by Laurent de Wilde, to be a fine, concise biography of jazz composer/pianist Thelonious Monk. A translation from French, this version has a casual, conversational tone which just manages to avoid descent into chattiness. De Wilde is a musician himself and speaks of musical matters (both the music itself, and the sociology of playing in bands) with a nuts and bolts clarity that a word-centric critic would never manage. Then again, this reviewer hated the book (and here's one who loved it), so what do I know?
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