The Making of Kind of Blue: Miles Davis and His Masterpiece

Rating:
Summary: a decent overview of jazz and Kind of Blue
Review: Unlike other reviewers below, I haven't read the author's other books, so I have to judge this one on its own merit. As far as his knowledge, he provides an excellent overview of various jazz styles and competent quick bios of the major players. My problem is with the pastiche-like feel of the book. It feels like the author slapped together a whole bunch of short encyclopedia articles, added some musical commentary and bang, had a book. At times it feels less than professional -- he mentions the drug and dope band thing about 20 times, plus a bit of namedropping on all his personal meetings with Miles.

Despite the fact it reads a bit like a late night college paper, I did learn a lot about jazz history, the lives of the players and the mood of the album. The author knows his stuff in this regard. If you're a big fan of the album, you'll cull some interesting information from this book. Don't let the small writing problems get in your way.