3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans & The Lost Empire of Cool

A immensely cogent study of three of the giants of modern jazz. A must read for any jazz or music buff or anyone interested in the history of the C20th or aesthetic theory. Superb!

I enjoyed this book, which is very well written and constructed. I didn't really learn much more than I already know about three of my favourite musicians, but Kaplan captures a turning-point for jazz, and where it led for Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bill Evans. Having read this book on Kindle I discovered Kaplan has written a two-part biography of Frank Sinatra, which is the best I've read so far. My (forlorn) hope is that he will turn his attention and considerable gifts as a writer, researcher and organiser of copious amounts of information to Duke Ellington.

I was hesitant about this as writing about jazz can be lists of players, residencies, and endless snippets of musicians talking each other up or down. The music all too easily disappears in a welter of hyperbole. This book does have all that but manages to avoid pub-bore territory. The start was slow (Miles on a 6-year heroin stint, stumbling through bebop). But then he emerges slows his pace down and starts to gel with John Coltrane, Bill Evans (and the others). This is where the book really took off.There are good descriptions of Miles Davis' recordings here - though I got more out of them when I knew the albums. There are even some good accounts of his musical development, though descriptions of modal jazz tend to shade into wine-appreciation-talk (normal language bent out of shape to evoke about subtle shades, moods and imagery). I took a couple of weeks to read the book to make sure I could go back to the music itself - something that is now easier than ever (and the author has curated a listening list). The music has lost none of its power and beauty and listening along really helps bring the book alive.I liked the group biography style here and I think the idea of '3 shades' captures the complementary differences between Davis, Evans and Coltrane. There are nice cameos of (some of the) other big names, like Ornette Coleman and Theolonious Monk. I liked the account of Theolonious Monk, which comes along just as the book really starts to take off. It does become the 'page-turner' that the blurb promises, though the final chapter is sad, as all those drugs catch up with them.The best way I think I can describe it is like a blend of 2 other jazz books aimed at the wider market: the narrative of Ted Gioia's The History of Jazz and the human detail of Geoff Dyer's But Beautiful. That probably doesn't mean much - but I'm trying to say it chronicles the outer story, but has some literary touches that make this into a human story that you can care about.The story this book captures so well is one of the heroic moments in human civilisation and it seems strangely neglected in general public awareness. Miles is a great lens through which to glimpse that mix of technical facility, musical adventure, and sonic beauty, as well as the human and emotional difficulties that come with it. This book aims to bridge between specialists and the general public and I really hope it does well. Go on, read it and listen to the music.

This book is "okay" as such but leaves me wondering what the author was trying to say? It is, in effect, three partial biographies that the author has tried to knit together around the lead-up to and recording of "Kind of Blue" and their subsequent musical careers. Other than they all recorded "cool jazz" during their careers and were briefly part of the legendary lineup on this record and subsequent touring, the narrative jumps around so much between the three protagonists (and others on the scene at the time), that it is difficult to see the coherent story suggested by the title.It doesn't add anything new to existing accounts and, because it covers three musicians, is far less comprehensive. It is a sketch of spliced biographical sections on three musicians (and several other musicians of the time) with no real unifying thread.I refer potential readers to either a general book on the history of jazz or, for more detail, individual biographies of the musicians or/and the making of a Kind of Blue.Finally, I need to comment about the writing style of the first 100 pages or so, since I almost gave up reading. The author or publisher seems to have had a fascination with colons, and with sentences and paragraphs starting with "and". I am no stickler for traditional punctuation and grammar but when a page is littered with so many of these (none of which add flow or artistic flare), one has to wonder what is going on. It makes reading almost impossible. Thankfully, these grammatic fetishes subside eventually - but it still gives you 20-25% of the book to fight through first.

I love this book—it is elegant, insightful, and memorable. For anyone interested in modern American music, its subject—the intertwining careers of three jazz giants—is of clear importance. Beyond that, however, Kaplan’s style seems just perfect to me. Some of his narrative may be familiar to readers, but the tone of his writing is fresh and completely his own. This story is both tough and tender, exhilarating and heartbreaking. What comes through on every page is the author’s profound respect for his subjects—the awe he has for their drive to create new and great music. The frequent mess of their actual lives suggests something of the difficulty of that quest. Kaplan has no rose-colored glasses: these lives were real and need to be seen honestly. However, he is motivated by the knowledge that it is their achievement—their lasting gifts to all of us—that transcends all the rest. Kaplan is simply wonderful at suggesting what really matters.

A very good and smooth read . It does not wallow , but the dark side comes through. A reminder that genius and art walk a narrow path . Add in some narrow points of view and stir . Cheers

Who Needed This?… not a rhetorical question, but one I found myself asking of myself, a hundred or so pages into the book, and realizing I had not read a single new thing so far.This book tells the story of three of the most influential jazz men of all time (Miles, Trane and Bill Evans), progressing chronologically by mapping their respective musical development, including rather extensive excursions on significant influences (Bird in the case of Miles, Monk for Trane).It then focuses on the time their paths crossed in Miles’s late 1950s sextet, and the creation of jazz’s most beloved and best-selling album, Kind of Blue. By the end of this episode, we are on page 300 out of 430, with the remaining 130 dedicated to the rest of these men’s careers, lives and deaths.The book is well written. The author mostly keeps to the background, and allows contrary opinions to stand side by side. Where he takes position, I find his views insightful and courageous, when courage is needed. While clearly impressed by the musical genius of his protagonists, he is never afraid to call things by their true name: Miles’s wife beating, Trane’s infidelities and disorienting LSD trips, and Bill Evans’s debilitating heroin addiction.With the exception of Kind of Blue, the discussion of music is rather brief, as it must be, given the extensive discographies of all three musicians. Telling all three stories side-by-side allows for an interesting comparative perspective concerning the musical development of these men in relation to each other, and to the times they were living in (which, of course, saw both the zenith and the decline of jazz, after the rise of rock music).So far so good, and anyone not familiar with the topic(s) will find this book a treasure trove. Only: who can we reasonably assume to be unfamiliar – and still want to read a book about jazz? The author quotes at length from the standard bios: Szwed on Miles, Miles/Troupe on Miles, Porter on Trane and Pettinger on Evans. For the excursions mentioned: Koch on Bird and Kelley on Monk. And, of course, Kahn on Kind of Blue.Who loves jazz, but does not own these books?I do own them, and hence my initially mentioned experience. Admittedly, I had thought long and hard (and, it appears unsuccessfully) about whether buying this book would be worthwhile. Is there anything new to say about any of these men? In all fairness, I think there is. Books like Ben Ratliff’s Story of a Sound (about Trane), Farah Jasmine Griffin and Salim Washington’s Clawing at the Limits of Cool (about Miles and Trane) and Enrico Pieranunzi’s The Pianist as Artist (about Evans) all prove, that new perspectives can be used, new insights gained. This book does not offer those, at least no substantial ones.My rating is a compromise.

In generale mi è piaciuto tutto. E' presente qualche imprecisione e mancanza. Mi è servito per incrementare la mia cultura in campo musicale e biografico (musica e artisti jazz)

Fans of these three jazz giants may feel that this book plows ground that has been covered before in previous biographies, but there's enough information to make it a worthwhile read. A full fourth of the book details what happened to Davis, Coltrane and Evans after the recording of Kind of Blue. For that matter, there are other volumes available that are much more detailed about that particular album's creation. Kaplan sees the album as the high water mark of America's lover affair with jazz and that the public's interest in the music began to wane shortly thereafter. Davis dominates throughout the book in comparison to the much smaller space afforded Coltrane and Evans.