I got this memoir on Amazon after seeing the film 2014 film, 'LOW DOWN' starring John Hawkes, Elle Fanning, and Glenn Close.
This is a biography of Joe Albany's daughter, Amy Jo, and deals with her life in the sixties and early 70's.
"Her childhood on the slummy side of Hollywood among addicts, prostitutes, sexual deviants is not a fairy tale with a happy ending".
Reminded me of the children in books by Charles Dickens
Joe Albany (born Joseph Albani; January 24, 1924 – January 12, 1988) was an American modern jazz pianist who played bebop with Charlie Parker as well as being a leader on his own recordings. Most of the 1950s and 1960s saw him battling a heroin addiction, or living in seclusion in Europe. He also had several unsuccessful marriages in this period. He returned to jazz in the 1970s and played on more than ten albums. He died of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest in New York City at the age of 63.
She spent most of her early life with Joe except the times that he spend in jail or rehab. During those times she lived with Joe's mother.
A.J.'s mother was a lush and an addict. She had little or no contact with Amy Jo.
Amy Jo's name is taken from two of the characters in 'LITTLE WOMEN'.
This is a particularly harrowing story: both for Joe and his daughter. The end of the book seems like AJ's life might have even been grimmer than Joe's.
"I would dive into the bottomless darkness of my life and sink all the way down. It was a beautiful drowning."
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