Hope to Die: A Memoir of Jazz and Justice

"Verdi Woodward knows every sound of the three basic time warps of our era—heroin, prison and jazz. His book gets them down cold with prose flights springing from the throat of a saxophone." —Charles Bowden, author, Down by the River and A Shadow in the City
 
The harrowing life of a heroin junkie, and the life changes that accompanied addiction, are succinctly captured in this gripping memoir of Verdi "Woody" Woodward. A professional saxophonist in the 1950s and a fixture on the Los Angeles jazz scene, Woody lost his way, became a "hope to die" drug addict and armed robber on the run, and spent a decade of running from the law before being captured. During incarceration Woody found the strength to renounce not only drugs, but also the violence and brutality fostered by the prison system.