As Though I Had Wings: The Lost Memoir

In her introduction to this disappointing book, Baker's widow, Carol, notes that it is a ""gorgeous jumble of images and impressions."" It is far from gorgeous. The jumble, which consists mainly of accounts of the legendary jazz trumpeter and singer's romances and marriages, the ruses he used to get discharged from the army, his long slide into drug dependency and his numerous drug busts, is childishly written and uninteresting. In one chapter, Baker (1929-1988) muses about growing up in Oklahoma, and there are brief references to the bands and musicians he played with, but other than this, there is very little about his background, his music or the course of his career. His most persistent recollections are of getting high and the people who supplied him with the ""stuff."" The memory of a talented musician is ill served by the publication of these inane writings. A selected discography is included. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)