Three shades of jazz swirled together in 1959 to make ‘Kind of Blue’
Frank Sinatra biographer James Kaplan has set his sights on three jazz giants
— Miles #Davis, John #Coltrane and Bill #Evans
— as their lives and their art lead up to the recording of 🔹Kind of Blue🔹 Davis’ landmark 1959 album that featured Coltrane on tenor saxophone and Evans on piano.
The album marked a commercial and creative peak in jazz, the summit of what Kaplan, in the book’s subtitle, calls 🔹The Lost Empire of Cool.🔹
Along the way we meet a supporting roster comprising some of 20th century music’s greatest minds and talents.
There’s Charlie #Parker, the sax virtuoso who, along with trumpeter Dizzy #Gillespie, all but created bebop, and who left many followers scrambling to emulate his every move — including, tragically, his insatiable heroin addiction.
There’s Thelonious #Monk, the bearlike composer and pianist who thought in rhythms that others couldn’t fathom.
There’s Ornette #Coleman, the Texas-born saxophonist whose experiments went further out than even Coltrane (for a time, anyway) and left many listeners and peers baffled and even angry.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-03-08/james-kaplan-3-shades-of-blue-miles-davis