Charles Mingus, bassist, composer and bandleader, was one of the towering figures of American twentieth-century music. In this acclaimed memoir, Mingus documents his childhood on an Army base in Arizona, his difficult teenage years in Watts and his musical education from the likes of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker. In a unique and lyrical voice, his story charts the highs and lows of a life lived to the full. Beneath the Underdog is also a portrait of life in the forties and fifties, and of ideas of identity and race in America. Above all, it is a powerful tale told through the eyes of an inspiring, anguished and extraordinary musician.