I don't think anyone has mentioned Geoff Dyers wonderful book But Beautiful. Its really a series of impressionistic fictions woven around the real lives of jazz heroes. Thelonius Monk has good story and Chet Baker but I really loved the part about Lester Young in the army. Its all held together by a narrative of Duke Ellington being driven across country from Kenosha to Kansas City by Harry Carney. This is Chet Baker : Onstage at Birdland, eyes shut, one arm hanging at his side....trumpet raised to his lips like a brandy bottle--not playing the horn but swigging from it, sipping it. If you love the music you simply have to read this. Richard Gardner