Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece

90-92% of this book is incredible. The last 20 pages or so (10% of the book) read like hype sheets that PR people send out about how good the album is. Like no shit it’s good it’s one of, if not the best jazz album ever. A few testimonials I get, but backloading it with superfluous nonsense is silly. Other than that the book is fantastic and a wonderful insight into a remarkable album.

Insightful look into the making of Kind of Blue, which is probably the first jazz album many of us ever really listened to. Kahn does a good job helping us to understand the circumstances leading up to the making of the album and why it was such a milestone. He also delves into the controversy over the real authorship of some of the music, specifically the significant contributions of pianist Bill Evans. Some of the details went over my head - not being a musician, I still can't tell you exactly what modal jazz really is - but it is always interesting to read about the creation of a masterpiece.

There are very few recordings that would warrant writing a history of how they were conceived and created, but Kind of Blue is one of them. This book will be appreciated and savoured by any listeners to the pieces and performances created by Miles Davis who have marvelled at the quality and originality of the 1959 recording.

A very fine account of the making of one of the greatest and most influential jazz recordings of all time. Where they recorded, how many takes, who played what, transcribed incidental conversations that were recorded during the sessions... great stuff for the fan.

This a really nice background information for the Kind of Blue Album and how Miles Davis formed the band that recorded the music. And like the book says it more of tribute to an ending of an era rather than a start to a new jazz age. However, many of the modern jazz has it roots to this album and warns that young musician need to have solid music education before trying to go into modal improvisations. Would recommend this book to anyone who has interest in music, history, and jazz.

Kind of Blue is probably the most important and influential jazz record ever made. Recorded in two sessions, in March and April 1959, by one of the most outstanding jazz combos of all times (Coltrane, Cannonball, Bill Evans, Chambers, and Cobb, under Miles leadership) it was recognized as a masterpiece shortly after its release. An hauntingly beautiful, mesmerizing, performance whose successive listenings are always rewarding, those forty five minutes of exquisite beauty have now a fitting literary companion in this book. With two first chapters on the early career of Miles, and two last ones on the selling of Kind of Blue, the central part of this work are the two chapters with the detailed account of the two recordings sessions, based show more on a number of interviews with some of those present, and on the audiction of the complete master tapes, including the studio chater, some of which is reproduced. A beautiful, well conceived book that, however, should only be read in tandem with the music. So What?!... show less

Good background... but still.. on a warm summers evening, on the front deck, good scotch in hand, listening to the music.... magic!