THIS MEMOIR BY ICONIC JAZZ TRUMPETER DIZZY GILLESPIE IS SIGNED BY DIZZY GILLESPIE! The inscription, date ('83) and signature of Dizzy Gillespie is on the endpaper behind the front board in ballpoint pen. THE SIGNATURE HAS NOT BEEN AUTHENTICATED BUT IS CONSISTENT WITH OTHERS EASILY FOUND ONLINE. The book was found in the estate of a jazz collector/hoarder in the Washington DC metropolitan area.
Co-authored with Al Fraser, published in 1979 by Doubleday & Company, this is an Early Printing, with the date of 1979 on the title page but First Edition is not printed on the copyright page. Overall in EXCELLENT CONDITION. The dust jacket with light edge wear with a bit of age-toning on the white spaces, but no tears or chips, and now handsomely portrayed in a mylar jacket. Clean boards with miniscule edge and corner wear, bright gilt spine titling. No interior marks in 552 clean and solidly bound pages. MANY GLOSSY PHOTOS ON PLATES THROUGHOUT.
A synopsis from the internet:
"Innovative memoir of jazz genius Dizzy Gillespie tells the story of black American music during one of its greatest periods.
This biography is intertwined with reflections from famous Gillespie associates Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, and many others. They provide numerous perspectives of Gillespie’s start on the road to fame and the spirited times that would follow. To Be, or Not . . . to Bop is a unique account that serves as both a rollicking history lesson in American music and culture and a towering play-by-play of a life not to be forgotten.
To Be, or Not . . . to Bop, a joyous, boisterous chronicle, is also a desperately needed history that will long endure as a testament to a giant of modern jazz."
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