Former jazz pianist and boxing manager Charles Farrell chats with Trey Elling about (LOW)LIFE: A MEMOIR OF JAZZ, FIGHT-FIXING, AND THE MOB. Questions include:
- How did Charles get into music, gambling, and hustling as a kid? (01:56)
- Why John Coltrane is the only musician he ever saw in person who scared him, and how did it impact his music? (06:57)
- What did teenaged Charles do when Janis Joplin tried to seduce him? (08:54)
- Which was the worst of the many mob clubs that Charles played in the 1970s? (10:36)
- How did Charles manage Leon Spinks so late in Leon’s career, and what challenges did that pose? (18:30)
- Why does he believe Sonny Liston took dives in both his fights with Ali? (23:39)
- Was Mike Tyson’s fight with Peter McNeeley fixed in any way? (33:31)
- What does Charles mean when he refers to Mike Tyson’s former trainer Cus D’Amato as a “chickenhawk”? (35:15)
- Did Charles ever get suckered into a boxing bet that cost him big? (40:28)
- Is Charles considering turning his life story into a movie? (54:38)