(Low)life
A Memoir of Jazz, Fight-Fixing, and The Mob
In (Low)life, Charles Farrell lets the public in on his gripping, harrowing, rich, and often amusing life that transverses his path from a teenage jazz prodigy, to mob-involved boxing fight-fixer, to his business partnership with the legendary Floyd Patterson, to fleeing a mob contract on his life, and to bargaining his way back to a life where he returned to jazz and collaborated with all-time greats, including Ornette Coleman. Along the way, Farrell's many brushes with iconic celebrities provide readers with eye-opening and revealing encounters that will surprise and delight.
A world-class jazz pianist, Charles Farrell made his living working Mob clubs from the time he was a teenager in the 1960s. He later moved from music to the complex world of professional boxing, managing dozens of fighters, including former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks and former gang leader Mitch 'Blood' Green, who famously went toe-to-toe with Mike Tyson — once in the ring and once in the street.
A fight-fixer and gangster, Farrell ran afoul of New York mobsters in the 1990s and retreated to the mountains of Puerto Rico, coming home only after an infamous boxing legend brokered his safe return.
Retired from the fight game, he returned to jazz and, among other collaborators, played frequently with his friend Ornette Coleman, the godfather of “Free Jazz” and one of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century.
(Low)life is a singular book by a singular man.
Charles Farrell has spent his professional life moving between music and boxing, with occasional detours. He has managed five world champions, and has played and recorded with many of the musicians he most admires--Evan Parker and Ornette Coleman among them. Farrell currently resides in the Boston, Massachusetts area.