i find myself always enjoying Books on People&this is no exception.very well detailed Book on a Important Composer&His Many Demons&Surroundings.I heard a few years back that Will Smith was considering doing the Bio Movie on Billy Strayhorn.it would be really interesting to see how things would come out on the Big screen.this book reflects on Music Talent&whole Life.very well done book.

This book has a lot going for it. Do you like music, swing and jazz? Do you like intersting people? Did you live through the 30's, 40's and 50's? Do you enjoy reading about that era? Do you enjoy reading a well written biogratphy? If the answer to any of these is yes, you'll like this book, it the answer is yes to several of these questions then you'll LOVE this book. David Hajdu has done an exemplary job of documenting the life of Billy Strayhorn. I really felt like I knew the man after reading this. He has done his research and he also writes with a very smooth style that keeps you intersted. I love music and I've read bios of Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, BB King, Chuck Berry, Led Zepplin, Allman Bros. on and on. This is one of the best if not the best music bio I've read.

Great Book... if you're an Ellington fan and like "Strays" music this is an absolute must. Very informative and interesting and also great reading. The author was here in Seattle for an Elllngton concert with Earshot Jazz and I met and chatted with him.... a very charming and informed man. cmm

This is the captivating, intimate story of the lives of four musicians who influenced a generation of young people and created a new era of popular American music. From the Greenwich Village coffee houses to the top of the pop charts, they were drawn together by their music and mutual attraction to take folk music to new heights, and create totally new sounds, re-defining the genre and mesmerizing the children of the 60's. Joan and Mimi Baez played guitar and sang from a very early age, and Joan was recognized as queen of folk music when she and the rising star, Bob Dylan met. Richard Farina, an up and coming novelist and sometime musician, was entranced by Joan, but married the beautiful Mimi when whe was 17 years old. David Hajdu explores the influence of other artistic greats such as Woody Guthrie, Hank Williams, Buddy Holly and James Dean as he captures the personalities of the Baez sisters, Bob Dylan and Richard Farina along with the complexity of their personal realationships. He Tells us of their hopes and dreams, their disappointments and their struggles to make it to the top. Whether you are a fan of their music or not, this marvelous book that reads like good fiction will give you a new understanding of what it's like to be an idol to generations of Americans. Hajdu conducted several hundred interviews to bring us a new story of the 60's that will touch your heart as it has mine. Beverly Rowe, reviewer for myshelf.com.

I was totally excited when the release of the book occurred for several reasons, but the main one was that the interesting lives of Richard and Mimi Baez Farina would be discussed.

Hadju, as he did in his excellent look at Billy Strayhorn ("Lush Life"),weaves a wonderful portrait of 4 young artists, all with immense talent,(the Baez sisters and Dylan as musicians, Farina as a novelist and musician) who all converge on the thriving Greenwich Village scene in the early 1960's. From there, the book, (complete with hundreds of wonderful interviews) begins to read like a modern soap opera- complete with torrid affairs, opportunism, deceipt, and lust. Whether it was Dylan's affair with Joan Baez to further his budding career, or taking on the bohemian personna that Richard Farina naturally had; Farina's courtship with Mimi Baez by letters, but all the while having a secret love for Joan; Dylan's very public breakup with Joan after his star had risen well beyond anyone's expectations- it's all in this book.

The book tactfully takes on the tangled web that these 4 people created for themselves, makes sense of it all, and while not pointing fingers in any one particular direction, does showcase both Dylan and Farina's overt opportunism, both at the expense of the Baez sisters. One can only conjecture what may have occurred had Richard Farina not died..would he have pursued Joan? and what would have become of Mimi at that point?

While the music is well documented on any number of cds- Dylan's early folk works are exquisite, Joan's politically active folk even more so, and Richard and Mimi's works, including one of my favorite folk songs in "Reno, Nevada," also on cd, the book takes off the golden dome of the era and shows the true underbelly of 4 starving artists trying to make it. They all did, to varying degrees. The book charts the early days, the struggles, the open deceipt, trials and tribulations. A riveting book.

Hajdu is simply a wonderful writer and researcher and his skills are a perfect fit with his aim here -- to illuminate the (re)birth of popular folk music and the (tortured) birth of folkish rock through the Baez sisters and their charismatic men, Bob Dylan and Richard Farina. Hajdu's first book, a biography of Billy Strayhorn, touched on every worthwhile element of a creative person's life. Here, he rounds up four creative people who exchanged any number of sparks between them, musical and sexual and otherwise. It is always interesting, often fascinating, sometimes maddening, never dull. It is the kind of pop-culture book we need more of: thoughtful and smart and generous in every direction.