Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece

I hate to be a nay-sayer when so many other critics have nothing but unqualified praise for this book. And, by and large, it's an interesting read with much fascinating information. As a compilation of facts, it offers an exciting look behind the scenes at the creation of a milestone (no pun intended) of jazz.However, the book has deficiencies that can't be overlooked.First of all, the book is too adulatory. Although it's much better than the completely worshipful Eric Nisenson book on the same subject, there's too much PR in proportion to journalism. When I buy a book I don't want to read an extended press release.In addition, Kahn's excuses for the ineptitude of Columbia Records are too forgiving. More of this below.First, I suspect that Kahn is not himself an experienced musician. When he tries to write about the music itself he makes several mistakes. I'll cite just one.On page 70 is a picture of the chart Cannonball Adderley used for "Flamenco Sketches," with a caption by the author that refers to the scales used in the tune as "C Ionian, A-Flat Mixolydian, B-flat Major 7th, D Phrygian, and G Aeolian." The chart, however, is transposed for Eb alto saxophone, so the picture doesn't match the description. It would have been helpful if the caption had mentioned this.Worse, however, is the apparent lack of understanding of music in the caption itself. "C Ionian" is essentially "C Major." Non-musical readers have heard of C Major but many may have no clue about what an "Ionian" is.The "A-flat Mixolydian" scale shown here begins on Eb, so it would be more properly labeled "Eb Dorian.""B-flat Major 7th" is a chord, not a scale. The scale is "Bb Major," period.It may well be that musicians occasionally refer to the scale described as "D Phrygian" by that name. But they would be wrong. The name jazz musicians give to the scale is "D Phrygian DOMINANT," and the correct name of the scale is "fifth mode of the G harmonic minor scale," which begins on D. It's a mouthful, to be sure. But it just ain't a plain vanilla D Phrygian, which contains one note that is crucially different. A chord built on the root of the scale shown is a dominant, not a Phrygian, chord."G Aeolian" is possibly accurate. That would be the same as "G natural minor." But since some of the notes in the middle are obscured, it might just as easily be "G Dorian."It's Kahn's excuses for Columbia records that really annoy me.On "Kind of Blue" Columbia mixed up the tracks, which resulted in 50,000 copies of the record being produced with incorrect labeling. I had one of those original discs, and the best I can say is that it was fun figuring out the mistake and then relabeling my own record.Astonishingly, the master tape machine for "Kind of Blue" ran slow, so pressings ran faster than the original recording and sounded sharp. This caused no end of puzzlement and annoyance to musicians who tried to play along with the album. Luckily, Columbia had a safety tape that ran at the correct speed, which has been used for subsequent reissues.Kahn mentions the above gaffs with the very slightest of "tsk"s, nowhere near the condemnation they deserve. But even more incredibly, he has nothing but praise for the sound of "Kind of Blue," which is among the worst sounding groundbreaking record I've ever heard.Columbia has a reputation among music listeners with real ears as producer of some of the worst sounding recordings of all the big record companies. They don't begin to reach the hem of the outstanding recordings of Decca (London), EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, and the absolute stars of early stereo recording, RCA Victor and Mercury, and numerous small companies such as Chesky. There isn't room to go into the details here, but if you have a good sound system and appreciate the value of realistic acoustics and accurate soundstaging across the width of the speaker field, you'll know what I'm talking about.Sometimes a good record slips through Columbia's gauntlet of over-zealous engineers, but "Kind of Blue" isn't one of them. The company has always been into multi-miking the recording and "cleaning up" in the editing. Their recordings typically sound canned, and it's regrettable that so many fine artists, including Leonard Bernstein and Miles Davis, allowed their immortal performances to be preserved in less than state-of-the-art sound.The acoustic of "Kind of Blue" is compromised by multi-miking, added echo, limiting of the dynamic range, "smoothing" of the true timbre of the instruments, and the lack of a believable three-dimensional space holding live musicians. There are any number of superb recordings out there that blow "Kind of Blue" away.The greatness of "Kind of Blue" lies not in its sound but in its harmonic experimentation and the inspired performances of its musicians, and in the almost spontaneous way in which the tunes were created and realized. Miles Davis himself said in an interview that he wished for a time when recordings preserved everything, including the mistakes. Listening to "Kind of Blue" makes one wish that Miles had meant it, and that we had the sounds of breathing, the sweat, the uncertainty, the little glitches, the beauty marks, and the natural acoustics of the room -- the human presence that sets the sublime so far above the merely great.Kahn says nary a word about all this. I wouldn't go so far as to say that he has no ears, but he didn't use them to really hear the SOUND of the recording.Nevertheless, the story is a great one, and Kahn deserves credit for researching and bringing it to us.

One of the best jazz books I have ever read. Deep insights into the music and the man, as well as his incredible career trajectory culminating in the greatest Jazz album ever made and his talented and illustrious side men. I was turned on to Jazz by my dad, and the 1st Miles album I ever experienced was Birth of the Cool. Miles Davis was never one to rest on his laurels. I still listen to Kind of Blue frequently, particularly Flamenco Sketches, which is my all-time favorite song. Bill Evans piano solo is simply magical, almost minimalist in his approach. Adderley so soulful, Coltrane so dynamic. I have played this for my family and it has converted them to jazz lovers. The book is a great tribute to the album, which is a must listen for anyone interested in understanding the transition from bop to hard bop to cool jazz to modal jazz. The book puts it all into context. Bravo Ashley Khan! As a result, I am also reading his book on the making of A Love Supreme.

There is a glaring weakness in this book. Ashley Kahn is a writer and not a musician. So far as specifics of modal music are concerned this book darkens counsel. So why give it five stars? The strong points overcome any shortcomings. First of all it describes the studio event-- very important history. Kahn did the research and got it right, and sets us in the studio as witnesses (it almost feels like being a participant). If a book is to be considered very good it usually must have something more however. In this book Kahn shows us something that others have overlooked. It is a photograph no one has seen for decades. The previously unpublished photograph of Cannonball Adderly's music stand is a tiny look inside the goals, intentions and methods of Davis and Evans. Improvisation is an ephemeral thing but at least there is the recording. Until now there was no evidence for what the original modal "compositions" looked like (very different from a bop chart). Khan clearly understood the significance of his find (although not fully able to explain its' details) and showcases it twice in the book. Modalism is not hard to explain, but I'm afraid this piece of music is a little more iconoclastic. I have played jazz modally since the 1970s on guitar and for a musician familiar with the theory the book is easy and fun. For a non musician some parts are confused and thus may be misleading.

Firstly, no one will contest that this is THE book regarding the circumstances, events & sessions that brought together 7 extraordinary musicians in absolutely top form to record what is arguably the finest album ever recorded. Not only is it a must read for any fan of this classic album, but for anyone who appreciates great music and wants to get a glimpse into what went into the recording of what became an almost historic event in jazz. Content, of course, gets 5 stars.On the other hand, the printing is absolutely awful. Pictures are washed out to the point where some things are hard to make out, with many having printing “lines” going through them. And many pages are cut off center, to the point where it seems there might be content lost on the bottom of some (so far I have not run into this but it looks that way). I could have done better with a XEROX machine. Absolutely awful.For a book of this caliber covering an event this historic in the history of music, I would have expected A LOT better.

Excellent analysis of an almost impossible to analyse genre. Ashley Kahn gets 'underneath', inbetween and inside of Miles Davis intricacies to such an extent that one must re-listen with the book in hand to hear the subtleties, both modally and harmonically including key signature debates. Huge amounts of commentary, including a nice foreward by the brilliant drummer Jimmy Cobb, from various musicians adds to the depth and flavour of Kahns book. It's been called a masterpiece...it is...that 'Kind of Blue' is seen as the 'definitive' jazz album...Kahns book is certainly its equal...I could go on but grab the book and be transported...

mr Kahn has done kind of what miles unwittingly did in making Kind of Blue, in writing a definitive textbook on a significant musical development. but it's written with love, not with an over-abundance of awe for his subject, but actually a fitting appreciation of all the factors and protagonists that led to the record's creation. finely-detailed on mic placements, room acoustics, tape speeds, but in a way that brings you into the music, the sound, the feel , the texture. great photos such as Canonball's music stand, cigarettes, aspirin for his migranes, brief notes on his briefest of music sheets, all telling with the aid of hindsight but which at the time barely hinted at the magnitude and majesty of the sounds they were about to produce... cultural impact and overview...check, all in all to this point in time the best work on the making of this album, if not the best work on the music contained therein...

There are few people associated with the development of modern music who do not recognize the significance of Miles Davis's LP recorded in 1959. Despite the disc being in the genre known as 'Modern Jazz' it has found its way into TV and film backing music as well as College and University academic course material - despite being, for some 50-odd years, a top-selling jazz record. Ashley Kahn's book takes the reader deep into the craft and creative processes exhibited by the master musicians involved. Very strongly recommended.

Pretty disappointed with this tbh. This second hand copy was deemed 'very good' quality but what I received was far from this. It's ruined.This book was supposed to be a part of my boyfriend's birthday gift and now I don't have time to exchange it.The only reason I've given 2 stars is because at least it arrived quickly. I suppose that's something.

I've never been a huge jazz fan but read that Kind of Blue was one of the all time great jazz albums. They weren't wrong so I wanted to read about the making of the album and the musicians who made it....They are all household names in the jazz world. This is a great read