Harlem Jazz Adventures

One of the most vivid and exciting chronicles of the Swing era I've yet read.

Timme Rosenkrantz was a Danish baron, who decided at a young age to travel to New York, and immerse himself in the jazz scene there. Which he duly did - to the absolute best of his abilities. Over the next few decades, he was to become a well-known and well-liked figure on the scene, befriend many of the jazz greats (he was a close friend of Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Fats Waller and many many others), blag his way into most of the New York venues, and collect a set of wonderful memoirs and anecdotes about his many adventures.

This book serves as a window onto a nearly-forgotten age, a treasured resource of jazz information (I found a lot of great music from reading this book) and is a seriously fun and easy read.

It's also ridiculously expensive. Great though it is, I'm very glad I bought it when it was cheaper.