Hampton Hawes [1928-1977] was one of jazz's greatest bebop pianists. But at the time of his celebration as New Star of the Year by Down Beat magazine (1956), Hawes was already struggling with a heroin addiction that would lead to his arrest and imprisonment and the interruption of a brilliant career that had intersected with the greatest players of his day, including Miles Davis, Kenny Clarke, Billy Eckstine, Stan Getz, Jimmy Rushing, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Clifford Brown. In 1963 President John F. Kennedy granted Hawes an executive pardon. In eloquent and humorous language Hampton Hawes tells of a life of suffering and redemption that reads like an improbable novel. Gary Giddins has called it "a major contribution to the literature of jazz."