About the Author:
Ashley Kahn is a journalist who was the primary editor of Rolling Stone: The Seventies and the primary contributor to Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide. He has contributed articles to the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Mojo. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.
From Booklist:
Da Capo has been well known as an excellent press for reissuing classic jazz books and for publishing notable foreign jazz titles, such as Francis Paudras' excellent Dance of the Infidels (1998), on the author's relationship with legendary jazz pianist Bud Powell, which was the springboard for Bertrand Tavernier's remarkable film, 'Round Midnight. Recently Da Capo was acquired by the protean Perseus Group (its publishing companies include PublicAffairs, Counterpoint, and Basic Books), and Da Capo's new catalog features quite a number of promising projects. Kind of Blue, also the title of the groundbreaking jazz album, leads the list. In writing about the production of that classic album, Kahn necessarily writes about the making of one of the sexiest jazz musicians of all times, the epitome of cool--Miles Davis. Miles' dark, brooding good looks, Mr. Heathcliff of the improvisational world, were made to be packaged. Fortunately, Miles had a bit of talent and the sense to surround himself with musicians possessing lots of talent to accompany all his cool. To let Miles tell it, "I was playing my horn and leading the baddest band in the business, a band that was creative, imaginative, supremely tight and artistic." Incidentally, the band on Blue was Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans (and Wynton Kelly), Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb. So Kahn breezes through this exciting discussion of the appearance and the significance of Kind of Blueit being the definitive introduction of modal jazz, the next step in the evolution of jazz following bebop. He's pushed along by the interpolations of quotes from musicians, record industry personnel, critics, friends, and relatives; and by vignettes, such as on the history of Columbia Records and the one about Fred Tolbert (aka Freddie the Freeloader). Kahn reports that the record Kind of Blue has sold millions worldwide and sells briskly, "averaging 5,000 copies a week," today. That aside, with the enthusiasm of a jazz fanatic, this is a great tribute and a fine book. Bonnie Smothers
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