I wrote this book review for school, and I thought I’d post it here. The book is Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece, by Ashley Kahn, Da Capo Press, 2007.
In a course on music appreciation, Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece would require a couple of weeks of study. It isn’t that this is a weighty volume; it’s just that rich in information. Author Ashley Kahn examines Miles Davis’s definitive record in unprecedented depth. From backstory to transcribed dialogue, technical data to black-and-white photos, this book is a time capsule and a treasure.
Of course, the average listener can enjoy Kind of Blue without knowing that it was recorded on Scotch 190 tape; that, as microphones went, engineer Frank Laico preferred the Telefunken U-49; that he used seven of them during the sessions. But that’s just the kind of information sound geeks and music aficionados love, and it brings the record to life in a new way.
Kahn has also compiled a significant number of documents and photos, and these enrich our listening experience all the more. We see Bill Evans’s handwritten chart for “Peace Piece,” the tune that inspired “Flamenco Sketches.” We see a record-company memo showing the musicians’ union rates: Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, Wynton Kelly, and Bill Evans each earned $64.67; Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb, the bassist and drummer, respectively, each earned $66.67, “cartage” being worth an additional two bucks. We see a shot of Chambers in a tie and Coltrane apparently in a suit coat—in the studio—and we can’t help but feel we’ve traveled to 30th Street Studios in 1959.
Conventional wisdom says technology makes life easier, but the recording industry seems to say otherwise. In our era, complete records often require teams of executives and years of work. Kind of Blue, an American classic, was made in two three-hour sessions. Columbia Records allowed Kahn access to the master tapes. There are just two. Kahn transcribed the musicians’ conversations between takes, and these transcriptions appear in the book.
Additional quotes from Columbia’s supporting cast also allow greater insight into the sessions. For example, the Steinway on Kind of Blue has a metallic quality because, as engineer Bob Waller recalls, “[Dave] Brubeck beat the shit out of it so it had very little felt left on the upper register.”
Davis’s Kind of Blue is a seminal work, and Kahn’s The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece is an invaluable companion piece. Musicians and listeners alike will be proud to place this book on their shelves.