Rating: 
Summary: Realistic and fair portrait of a great musician...
Review: Even though Szwed captures Miles Davis in a brutally honest light, it is easy to appreciate the co0llective work and capability that Miles Davis excercised during his lifetime. I appreciated the honesty as it enabled me to understand the behavior of Miles throughout his life. I also appreciated the fair treatment of his later work, though not well received, it was nice to gain an understanding of the motives behind the music.
Rating:
Summary: Realistic and fair portrait of a great musician...
Review: Even though Szwed captures Miles Davis in a brutally honest light, it is easy to appreciate the co0llective work and capability that Miles Davis excercised during his lifetime. I appreciated the honesty as it enabled me to understand the behavior of Miles throughout his life. I also appreciated the fair treatment of his later work, though not well received, it was nice to gain an understanding of the motives behind the music.
Rating:
Summary: The Prince of Darkness Deconstructed
Review: I did not particularly like John Szwed's new biography of Miles Davis. His prose is stolid. His analysis of Miles' music is, at best, pedestrian. His presentation of the milieu in which jazz musicians work and create strikes me as disembodied and rather off-key. Still, this is probably the first book you should read if you are interested in the life of Miles Davis the man. (If his music is your primary concern, consult the bios by Jack Chambers, Ian Carr, and Paul Tingen for analysis of his early, middle, and late (electric) periods respectively.)All the main events of Davis' life are touched on in a concise, workmanlike fashion. His family and financial problems are outlined in considerable detail and, while hardly edifying, will nevertheless be of interest to many fans. Szwed does do a superb job throughout of deconstructing and explaining the creation and maintenance of Miles' public persona. And it is indeed a persona worth deconstructing. No personality in the history of jazz so permeates the modern jazz sensibility and so seduces the imagination of its enthusiasts as does the great (and wicked) Mr. Davis. In the end, though, Szwed seems just as flummoxed as other commentators in grasping (much less explaining) precisely why Miles Davis came to be one of the towering figures in 20th century music.
Rating:
Summary: The Prince of Darkness Deconstructed
Review: I did not particularly like John Szwed's new biography of Miles Davis. His prose is stolid. His analysis of Miles' music is, at best, pedestrian. His presentation of the milieu in which jazz musicians work and create strikes me as disembodied and rather off-key. Still, this is probably the first book you should read if you are interested in the life of Miles Davis the man. (If his music is your primary concern, consult the bios by Jack Chambers, Ian Carr, and Paul Tingen for analysis of his early, middle, and late (electric) periods respectively.) All the main events of Davis' life are touched on in a concise, workmanlike fashion. His family and financial problems are outlined in considerable detail and, while hardly edifying, will nevertheless be of interest to many fans. Szwed does do a superb job throughout of deconstructing and explaining the creation and maintenance of Miles' public persona. And it is indeed a persona worth deconstructing. No personality in the history of jazz so permeates the modern jazz sensibility and so seduces the imagination of its enthusiasts as does the great (and wicked) Mr. Davis. In the end, though, Szwed seems just as flummoxed as other commentators in grasping (much less explaining) precisely why Miles Davis came to be one of the towering figures in 20th century music.
Rating:
Summary: Accessible introduction to Miles Davis
Review: I found this to be a good book, although I'm not sure I would place it ahead of the other two Miles biographies out there. Szwed writes engaging prose and keeps things moving along throughout while writing in a good voice for this type of thing. Chambers book seems to be better researched,though, and it seems that Szwed relies heavily on secondary sources and the Troupe interviews with Miles Davis from the 80s. Personally, I distrust some of Miles' comments on his art from the 80s as he was heavily wrapped up in a star persona by that point. I felt the book was stronger on the bop period and the 60s and seemed to rush headlong through the 80s. This is kind of a pity because Szwed's is the only biography written since Miles' death and more interpretation and a stronger stance on Miles' later period would be illuminating for this contraversial period in his art. The book seems to be written more for those interested in miles the artist and miles the man than miles the musician. There is not too much musical analysis, and I didn't have too much of a problem with that. Chambers book goes into greater detail and is still my first recommendation for those seriously interested in Miles, but this can be a good intro and will definitely give folks a greater sense of this powerful figure of jazz.
Rating: 
Summary: I've read better Miles
Review: I've read most every book about Miles Davis. So I don't know why I was expecting to learn many new things from this book. Szwed's version seems to be a regurgitation of Miles autobiography, Milestones, and the biography by Ian Carr to name a few. I'd definatley suggest those books before picking this one up. Although I found the book to be well written I didn't think it was the best source to learn about Miles and his music.
Rating:
Summary: I've read better Miles
Review: I've read most every book about Miles Davis. So I don't know why I was expecting to learn many new things from this book. Szwed's version seems to be a regurgitation of Miles autobiography, Milestones, and the biography by Ian Carr to name a few. I'd definatley suggest those books before picking this one up. Although I found the book to be well written I didn't think it was the best source to learn about Miles and his music.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Great Davis Biography
Review: Miles' autobiography (written with Quincy Troupe) is fascinating; Ian Carr's biography of Miles is wonderful; Paul Tingen's recent book "Miles Ahead" shone even more light on the man and his music. Now John Szwed does an admirable job of looking for things we didn't know yet, and telling us more of Miles' story. I really like the way that Szwed didn't try to encapsulate or obsolesce the other books. He presents information that complements them, and/or reveals new perspectives on things, but he doesn't reiterate the stories in the other books, fascinating though they are. However when his research did show contradictions with those other sources (particularly with Miles' autobiography and his self-portrayal within it) he gives us the information and lets us judge for ourselves. The world was indeed ripe for another Miles Davis book, one in which the author manages to locate new source material and interview relatives not previosuly interviewed (or, not interviewed much). I salute Szwed for his choice in topics; first he writes a brilliant biography of Sun Ra (an important artist whose history had been underdocumented) and now a great book on Miles Davis (an important individual whose life has been documented at some length).
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Book on Miles
Review: not many Artists are that interesting where you want too read any book you see on them.but Miles Davis was not just any other Cat.the Man changed the way Music was heard&had a style in Hsi Playing&Leading His Band that made him one of the cornerstones.this Book takes on the Man,Myths,Music,times&raps it all together as on.I'd say the book is very fair overall in speaking on him as a Artist&a human being.when you read one Book on Miles you will want 21 more just like it because that is the vibe Miles has on you once you are hooked on His Genius.
Rating:
Summary: The best all-around biography yet written about Miles Davis!
Review: Prior to SO WHAT I felt that, as revealing as many prior Davis bios were (including Miles' own book), their sum was somehow less than the parts. That is, there was more to understand about Miles Davis than what was collectively written. Along comes SO WHAT, the most balanced and coherent one-stop source yet for getting to know about the entirety of Miles Davis' life. As much as Miles urged us to let the music speak for itself, the context and environment in which Davis' art was created is important, and author John Szwed is up to the challenge to walk down the many paths that lead to and from Davis' music and life (e.g., discussing the aesthetics of artists as wide-ranging as Stockhausen and Sly Stone, both of whom impacted Miles' musical vision in the 1970s). Szwed doesn't attempt to cram every interesting, revealing, or just plain provocative story from prior books into his bio. Still, his research does come up with some errors previously presented as facts, and there are plently of newfound "Miles Davis stories" to amuse and/or amaze the reader, for better and worse. What the author seems to do is pick and choose among the previously-revealed tidbits about Miles and use them as supplements to 1) his open-minded knowledge about the entirety of Davis' music (as well as the cultural and commercial environment in which it was created), and 2) fresh, revealing interviews he conducted with family members and others close to the subject at key points in his life. Having unprecedented access to Davis' family was possibly the missing piece of the puzzle needed to really reconcile what was already known about Miles with the many contradictions that sat unresolved for decades (e.g., tough exterior, insecure interior). Even as Szwed stays in tune with Davis' music from beginning to end, he reveals with unprecedented detail just how chaotic his personal life was. Previously I thought Davis was unlucky to have died so relatively young...albeit at age 65. Given all of the substance abuse and other problems he faced (and created for himself), I'm now amazed that Miles lasted so long, and how he could--with a bare minimum of lulls over nearly a half-century--be artistically creative right up to his final hospitalization in 1991. Being that Miles' life was often sensationalistic to begin with, Szwed plays it cool with this hot topic, writing the way that Davis played, sans ornamentation. SO WHAT stays focused on the big picture...with details that dip beneath the surface throughout Miles' entire life. The information seems mostly accurate; among the errors that I caught were that Szwed states the 1985 Artists United vs. Apartheid SUN CITY project in which Davis participated was a Quincy Jones production (in reality it was led by Little Steven and Arthur Baker). The author is confusing that benefit recording with WE ARE THE WORLD from the same year which Jones did direct (this error undermines Szwed's critique of the SUN CITY album). Also, it's unfortunate that the 20-CD COMPLETE MONTREUX boxed set came along too late to be included here, because the high quality of that music is the best evidence yet that Miles' final years were musically-productive ones. However, all this means is that understanding Davis remains an ongoing process. Even with its few minor flaws, no one to date has better unraveled the enigmatic genius of Miles Davis than Szwed. I recommended this book first, with Paul Tingen's MILES BEYOND next in line.
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