Title: Boogie Stop Santoro
Review: This book was a major disappointment. I am a huge Charles Mingus fan and looked forward to this book with great anticipation. To give Santoro his due, he does do a great job situating Mingus in a broader context, not just of the jazz world but of the contemporary avant-garde arts scene. And one certainly does get a good feel for the personality and life of Mingus here. But the writing style is sophmoric, full of throw-away phrases and juvenile attempts to be hip. How many times does he conclude a paragraph with (I can't remember the exact words) something like, "He felt the zeitgesist working again." Santoro also shies away from discussing Mingus's music--rarely does he venture an opinion on a particular concert or recording. He also gives short shrift to Mingus's sidemen. I would recommend this as a pretty good read, but start with Brian Priestly's bio and be prepared for an extrememly annowing prose style.
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