Double Helix: A Memoir of Addiction, Recovery, and Jazz in Two Voices

by Ed Reed, Diane Reed

In 1968, Ed was a 39 year-old African-American parolee, heroin addict, and sometimes jazz singer from Watts, California. Diane was a naïve 24-year old Jewish girl from the Bronx. People said they had no business being together, and their many troubled years of marriage, divorce, reconciliation, more separation and ultimate bottoming out seemed to prove them right―almost. Double Helix is an intensely evocative and unsentimental story told in alternating narrative voices that follows the turbulent, decades-long journey of two people from different worlds whose lives, continually spiraling around each other like a double helix, are really two intertwined stories.

Double Helix traces Ed's 40 tumultuous years of drug addiction, four stints in prison, near death overdoses, treatment programs and mental hospitals, relapses, and homelessness. It also describes how Diane's desire to help a loved one crossed a boundary from healthy support to detrimental enabling, or codependency, that prevented her from holding him accountable, letting go, and living her own life. Each eventually found a path to recovery, bringing new challenges and Ed's dazzling rise as a nationally renowned jazz singer. Double Helix conveys a compelling message―not only is change possible, but it is never too late to realize your dreams.

360 pages, Paperback

Published September 7, 2021

Reviews

[Jennie Schacht · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to believe this story is true, and yet you know it is because, yes, a lot of good people get tangled up in a lot of bad and difficult things. Though the authors let you know from the get-go that this oft-times tragic tale has an ultimately triumphant ending, you turn each page hoping for that to come sooner yet fearful of the truth you know will inevitably unfold. Throughout, you love these two for their enormous hearts and unyielding hope but hate their behaviors. Though my own story is different, very much of theirs resonated deeply with me, making it a very moving and gratifying read. As a jazz lover, I was delighted by the appearance of a number of jazz icons throughout the book, and also saddened by their own personal tragedies. Mostly, I am grateful to Diane and Ed for finding their inner light and love and sharing it with us. It cannot have been an easy book to write!

[Anton Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories Ed and Diane tell about their lives are truly captivating. They are exceptional individuals, carving out meaning in life, always thinking about how to make the world a better place. Learning about the long pathway that brought them to where they are… is astonishing and enlightening. They write with great honesty about the forces of adversity—both external (racism, prison, corruption) and internal (addiction, self-deception, fear)—and their lifelong quest to overcome them through love, self-knowledge, service… and music. The narrative they weave feels at once both shockingly truthful and the stuff of movies.
This book offers a precious glimpse into two remarkable lives, and into the times in which they lived. I am so glad it exists for you to read.

[Michael Kroll]

Double Helix tells the incredible story of the intertwined lives these two remarkable individuals have lived – and continue to live. While the DNA of their lives swirled around each other, each was dealing with a destructive dependency. But in that swirling, in that intermingling of two lives, the power of the human spirit – the conscious effort to understand and overcome – prevails! Theirs is truly a story of triumph, told in alternating voices that take us on a journey through racism and sexism, universities and prisons. When, after his acclaimed jazz concert performance at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Ed and Diane are summoned to sit with Aretha Franklin and Bette Midler, the reader has no doubt that this triumphant moment belongs to them both.

[Hkp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read an ARC and was blown away by the story and its raw honesty. It’s a real slice of life (several slices, really) from the 1960s and 70s, including what life was like for musicians inside San Quentin. More than anything, this is an inspirational memoir. No matter the challenge, both Ed and Diane show that it is possible to overcome your past, and achieve artistic success later in life.