‘3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and the Lost Empire of Cool’ by James Kaplan

Expand

3 Shades of Blue by James Kaplan

The culmination of 3 Shades of Blue arrives with the recording of Kind of Blue (1959), an epochal album that epitomizes and transcends the cool jazz genre and fulfills the aspirations of jazz as art. This won’t be news to jazz buffs. A good handbook on Kind of Blue was published several years ago, and there have been many biographies of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bill Evans, the key players on Kind of Blue.

But given the forgetfulness and lack of context that characterizes our culture in 2024, another intelligent backward look is welcome. As narrative history, James Kaplan adds nothing as he retells the story of prominent postwar jazz musicians (Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker also factor prominently) with a close listen to the development of their styles and an eye to the wildfire spread of heroin. What Kaplan adds is his own perspective, not necessarily novel but well expressed. 

Kaplan argues that in 1959, jazz reached a summit—afterward, the atmosphere became too thin. He quotes but doesn’t entirely agree with critic Nicholas Payton’s assertion that “Jazz died in 1959.” As Kaplan points out in his long, final (post-’59) chapter, Dave Brubeck went Top-40 in 1960 with “Take Five” while Coltrane and Ornette Coleman broke sonic barriers during the ‘60s. However, the audience was shrinking. Modern jazz had already withdrawn from the dance halls with ‘40s bebop, and no one danced to Kind of Blue. With the arrival of The Beatles and the British Invasion, and the growing sophistication of rock, jazz began to lose the collegiate audience. Miles Davis was determined to reach that crowd, and a less talented cohort followed him into fusion. “I find almost all the jazz I want and need” from 1942-1967, Kaplan writes of an era when one breakthrough masterpiece followed another. “The thrill of this great and never fading music is this book’s pulse.”

Get 3 Shades of Blue at Amazon here.

Paid link