Cosby biography follows the ups and downs of the popular comic

“Cosby: His Life and Times” by Mark Whitaker (Simon & Schuster, 532 pages, $29.99)

You could make a case that Bill Cosby is America’s most popular jazzman.

For most of his life, Cosby has been riffing, improvising, playing off audiences and other performers, all the while making it sound like he knew where he was going all along.

When he hit the right groove, Cosby broke new ground: as a comic who pushed standup comedy from jokes to storytelling; as the first African-American actor to star in a prime-time television drama series (“I Spy”); as a leader in educational TV (“The Electric Company,” “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids”); as the world’s No. 1 pitchman (think Jell-O pudding, Coca-Cola, etc.); as the guy who rescued the TV sitcom (and a network), and made prime time safe for “real” black families, with “The Cosby Show.”

“Cosby: His Life and Times,” the first major biography of one of America’s most beloved and influential figures, captures all of it, along with the occasional misfires and darker moments in Cosby’s life.

The book by journalist Mark Whitaker is not exactly an official biography; at first, Cosby steered clear of the project, although he eventually agreed to let Whitaker spend a lot of time with him.

But it’s hard to call “Cosby: His Life and Times” an objective, warts-and-all look at its subject. While Whitaker acknowledges Cosby’s shortcomings – his philandering, his distrust of outsiders – he is clearly a fan, and more often than not gives the comedian the benefit of the doubt, or at least the last word.

Still, the book is a solid, well-researched reminder of Cosby’s impact on the pop-culture landscape.

Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

This story was originally published October 18, 2014 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Cosby biography follows the ups and downs of the popular comic."