How is the "culture of the autobiography" contextualized in Art and Laurie Pepper's Straight Life: The Story of Art Pepper?

Straight Life: The Story of Art Pepper is the autobiographical tale of the American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist Art Pepper. The book was originally published in 1979 and had its second publication in 1994; however, this time it was published as a semi-autobiography and semi-biography, as Art's wife, Laurie Pepper, decided to continue her husband's story and wrote about his last decade alive.
According to many critics, Art Pepper undoubtedly changed the "culture of the autobiography," as he shamelessly explained his own life story in great detail and, at the same time, subtly bragged about most of his life choices and bad decisions. The book mainly describes his struggles with anxiety, his tragic love life, his addiction to drugs and alcohol, and the time he spent in jail and in rehab. He also describes his love for jazz, his quest for his own identity, his mental health and personal philosophy, his racist tendencies, and finally, his way of coping with the unscrupulous and unforgiving industry.
What makes the autobiography unique is the fact that, as we read the story, we realize that Art was not aware that many of his words and actions actually hurt some people; in fact, he was convinced that many people loved and adored him, and to be quite fair, the majority of them really did. In contrast, his wife talked with a lot of his friends and colleagues and, parallel to his story, wrote about how many of these people actually thought that Art was weak, cowardly, and manipulative, but they were easily pulled by his magnetic presence and even enjoyed it without being able to explain why.
Art and Laurie further explore the culture of the autobiography by making their book a book of contrasting concepts. For instance, Art seems to be this unkind, selfish, overconfident, arrogant, and egoistic person; his music, on the other hand, is gentle, beautiful, melodic—almost a polar opposite to his personality. This made people wonder who he really was, deep inside. Art was certainly not an evil man, but he was not a good one either; he was one of those charming villains that manage to go through life without ever learning from their past mistakes and experiences. Unfortunately, Art never expressed remorse or regret for what he did and thought, and he even believed that these things were okay. In other words, he never felt nor experienced happiness in its truest form and only found his "temporary fix" in his music.
Both Art and Laurie were praised for their painful honesty and well-structured narrative, and many critics and readers agree that Straight Life: The Story of Art Pepper is probably one of the saddest, but also the most powerful, autobiographies ever written by a musician.