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In the spring of 1959,
seven musicians got together in a converted
church on 30th Street in Manhattan and made
jazz history. Over forty years have passed
since Miles Davis assembled his famed sextet
to record Kind of Blue, and in that time
the album has risen to the level of masterpiece.
Still
selling over 5,000 copies a week, it is
considered the bible by many jazz musicians
and revered as one of the most important
albums of the century. How did an effort
that all its participants dismiss as just
another day at the studio become a musical
and cultural landmark?
In Kind of Blue:
The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece,
Ashley Kahn gives readers the unprecedented
opportunity to enter the 30th Street studio
and witness the creation of this remarkable
album. Drawn from countless interviews,
meticulous research and rare access to the
master tapes, Kind of Blue is the most complete
look at the album to date, describing the
now-famous sessions, the trajectory of Davis's
career leading up to the recording, and
the impact of the album, then and now, on
listeners and musicians.
At
the heart of Kind
of Blue are the take-by-take
accounts of the sessions, "the unedited
dialogue, false starts and breakdowns,"
reproduced here for the first time. The
transcribed chatter reveals a surprisingly
relaxed and jocular Davis, and gives readers
the chance to hear legendary musicians at
work, including saxophonists John Coltrane
and Julian "Cannonball" Adderly, pianist
Bill Evans, and drummer Jimmy Cobb.
Complementing
the accounts of the sessions are the fruits
of Kahn's research-anecdotes from some of
the greatest names in music, session photos,
and Columbia memos-that together transport
the reader back to the spring of 1959. Bill
Evans's original handwritten liner notes,
a photo of Evans's charts for "Flamenco
Sketches," Gil Evans's chart for the dreamy
introduction to "So What," and so much more
can be found in Kind
of Blue, as it recreates one
of the greatest moments in the jazz tradition.
New
and never-before-published material in Kind
of Blue includes:
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The
complete, unedited master session tapes,
with analysis of fragmentary takes that
have never been released, and studio
dialogue between Davis and the musicians.
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Over
forty new interviews with musicians,
producers, and critics, including Herbie
Hancock, Elvin Jones, Quincy Troupe,
George Avakian, Nat Hentoff -- and the
only people still living who witnessed
the making of the album: Jimmy Cobb,
engineer Bob Waller, and photographer
Don Hunstein. |
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More
than 50 previously unpublished photos
of the recording session, featuring
a rare shot of Miles's charts. |
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Studio
logs and internal memos from Columbia
about the making and marketing of the
album. |
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The
handwritten version of Bill Evans's
famous liner notes. |
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