I'm an Iowan who's been to the "Bix" fest in Davenport, not actually knowing his history. I'm so glad I found this book. It's a wonderful well-written account of his life during the turbulent 20's; the mobsters, the flappers, speakeasies, and the beginning of the jazz age. Bix was a man driven by his desire to not be mediocre in his genre-always striving to perfect himself while becoming alcoholic on the rot-gut gin in the process. I love that era anyway and learned so much more about what it was actually like. Though some of the 20's jargon was a bit slow-going for me to understand, I quickly caught on and was swept into the story quickly. It was hard to put down.

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