Rating: 
Summary: A Companion, a guide, and much more.
Review: A surprisingly brisk read for a book of such ambitious scope, the author begins a full decade before the recording it chronicles. A wide range of subject matter - the evolution of jazz, Miles as an artist and creative voice, recording techniques, even the business of jazz marketing - are covered engagingly, intelligently and leave the reader with a better context in which to place this seminal recording. Long-time fans, who know the music and the myths inside out, will marvel anew at the dedication Miles showed not only to his music, but in what can only be called his sentimentality in working with the other artists on the dates. His relationship with pianist Bill Evans is especially poignant. The rise of modal jazz and its off-shoot from bop, along with the impact on the post-war generation of players is juxtaposed against a record label system willing to actually bid for jazz artists(!) and put real thought and resources into promoting their works. There is a tinge of nostalgia to the writing, though the author is not a contemporary of the original recording's release. This tone is far out-weighed by the realization that Kind of Blue really did mark a second (or third) Golden Age in jazz and that men the likes of Miles Davis - or Babe Ruth or Marlon Brando - seem not to walk among us much anymore. In an age of celebrity profiles and Behind the Music "documentaries", Kahn's book shows us that every story has many stories, and he tells each with a respectful touch.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic reading
Review: After many years of listening to Kind of Blue and marveling at the sound that has impacted jazz even to this day, this book has given me an even greater appreciation for the man and his music. What Mr. Kahn has been able to accomplish is to take the reader inside the studio and let them understand the recording of this incredible masterpiece. Taken from insights of Jimmy Cobb, one of the drummers, and sadly the only surviving musician, along with notes from the engineers, the producers, and technicians, the reader gets the feel of being there. One of the most remarkable things about this is that most of the music was created on the spot, and this book lets you in on the whole creative process that created what was then a new way of playing jazz. If you are a hardcore jazz lover, or you only buy one CD a year, get Kind of Blue, buy the book and enjoy witnessing history as it unfolds.
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS BOOK
Review: Any jazz fan or musician will love this book. But in the broader picture, it's a great exploration of American history and the '50s, with overtones of the racial elements and heroin use that effected black and white musicians. You will feel like you are there, every step of the way that led Davis to create "Kind Of Blue." And you'll get a real sense of who he was as a person -- maybe not so likeable a lot of the time. The most compelling aspect, though, is the path that led to the modal jazz movement, why it's important. The history, the music, the whole '50s scene -- I couldn't put this book down. And big kudos to the author on his handling of the material and manner in which he delivered this story.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating book about a terrific album
Review: As a jazz fan I was eager to read Ashley Kahn's book on the album "Kind of Blue", and I wasn't disappointed. The author got a rare opportunity to listen to the master tapes of the two studio sessions that created the five songs on the album. The heart of the book is the dissection of each song -- its origins, the mistakes made along the way, and an analysis of the final complete version. Also interesting was the story of Miles Davis' career up to that point. The description of the jazz scene in 1959 put the album into context. It's fascinating to be reminded that "Kind of Blue" was overshadowed at the time by Ornette Coleman's debut album, which was considerably more avant-garde (but much less accessible). Not being musically trained myself, I didn't completely follow Kahn's explanation of "Kind of Blue"'s ground-breaking use of modal (versus chordal) scales. I was more interested in the human stories -- how Miles hooked up with Bill Evans; John Coltrane's expansion of his musical horizons while working with Davis; the impact of heroin addiction on Davis' attempts to keep his bands intact. There are a lot of personal histories embedded in the story, and the author does a good job of teasing them out and explaining how this seminal release came to be made.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating book about a terrific album
Review: As a jazz fan I was eager to read Ashley Kahn's book on the album "Kind of Blue", and I wasn't disappointed. The author got a rare opportunity to listen to the master tapes of the two studio sessions that created the five songs on the album. The heart of the book is the dissection of each song -- its origins, the mistakes made along the way, and an analysis of the final complete version. Also interesting was the story of Miles Davis' career up to that point. The description of the jazz scene in 1959 put the album into context. It's fascinating to be reminded that "Kind of Blue" was overshadowed at the time by Ornette Coleman's debut album, which was considerably more avant-garde (but much less accessible). Not being musically trained myself, I didn't completely follow Kahn's explanation of "Kind of Blue"'s ground-breaking use of modal (versus chordal) scales. I was more interested in the human stories -- how Miles hooked up with Bill Evans; John Coltrane's expansion of his musical horizons while working with Davis; the impact of heroin addiction on Davis' attempts to keep his bands intact. There are a lot of personal histories embedded in the story, and the author does a good job of teasing them out and explaining how this seminal release came to be made.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating book about a terrific album
Review: As a jazz fan I was eager to read Ashley Kahn's book on the album "Kind of Blue", and I wasn't disappointed. The author got a rare opportunity to listen to the master tapes of the two studio sessions that created the five songs on the album. The heart of the book is the dissection of each song -- its origins, the mistakes made along the way, and an analysis of the final complete version. Also interesting was the story of Miles Davis' career up to that point. The description of the jazz scene in 1959 put the album into context. It's fascinating to be reminded that "Kind of Blue" was overshadowed at the time by Ornette Coleman's debut album, which was considerably more avant-garde (but much less accessible). Not being musically trained myself, I didn't completely follow Kahn's explanation of "Kind of Blue"'s ground-breaking use of modal (versus chordal) scales. I was more interested in the human stories -- how Miles hooked up with Bill Evans; John Coltrane's expansion of his musical horizons while working with Davis; the impact of heroin addiction on Davis' attempts to keep his bands intact. There are a lot of personal histories embedded in the story, and the author does a good job of teasing them out and explaining how this seminal release came to be made.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating
Review: Ashley Kahn vivedly presents the account of the Kind of Blue session, but that's not what is so appealig about this book. Its strength lies in its portrayal of the inner workings of post-war jazz, its players, and its impact on our modern cultures. We get to see the personalities of some of jazz's influential players: Miles Davis, Ornette Colemen, Bill Evans, and John Coltrane. We get a glimpse of live performances, and we are presented with a detailed look at Columbia recording studios in the late 1950s. The men, the music, and the philosophy of jazz are all here in this lively journal. If you are a jazz fan, or if you like Miles like I do, you won't be able to put this one down.
Rating:
Summary: Stop, Look, Listen....And Read More 'bout It
Review: Everybody who got Miles Davis' album KIND OF BLUE must picked this book 'cuz I'm a huge Miles Davis fan. This was worth reading since I read it 3 or 4 times which I checked out from the library. I'm happy this one interesting like if u're an avid reader or artist that loves jazz, you should have this book, it tells it all from liner notes, artists, musicians, critics, et al who talked and thinked about it, biographies and facts about it, how it became the best selling jazz album of all-time since Dave Brubeck's TIME OUT, all of the above.
Rating: 
Summary: Not enough material to justify a whole book
Review: Given the book's very specific focus, anyone who is unfamiliar with Miles Davis would be better advised with one of the several good general biographies. The first half of the book examines Miles' career leading up to the recording session, focusing specifically on the quintet/sextet - nothing new here, but less detail than some of the other books, which go into much more depth on the same subjects, such as the Birth of the Cool band and the Gil Evans collaborations. The second half deals with the two actual recording sessions. Some interesting detail here, specifically the transcriptions of the studio chatter between takes. Also, some background on Columbia's 30th St studios. Information on the studio's fascinating history can also be found in other books, though I haven't come across it in anything on Miles before (like most Columbia artists, he recorded there quite a bit). Limiting his focus on a specific album would seem to behoove the author to delve into why and how this album stands out in musical history. Besides some incomplete sales figures, though, Kahn seems to lack any real understanding of what constitutes the musical achievements and innovations of this album. Of course, he can assume the reader of such a book would already know this - after all, why else would he read the book? However, this means that Kahn never discusses issues of fundamental interest to the reader: To what degree was Miles' brilliant solo on "So What" pre-conceived (in the two-chorus solo, Miles structures the entire first chorus around the tonic chord, and the entire second chorus around an upper-structure triad, making this the only technique used to develop his solo)? Do the partial takes the author was privy to hearing reveal anything about other approaches? On "Blue In Green", the band first doubles, then quadruples the harmonic rhythm, while keeping the same ballad feel throughout the piece. This is the radical opposite of conventional "double-time" techniques in ballads, where the feel doubles up, but the chords continue to progress in the original time frame. Bill Evans even aludes to this in his original liner notes, yet in the book this is ignored completely. Again, with so many incomplete takes, was this an issue for the band? If Kahn was not aware of this while listening to the master tapes, he would not be able to answer these important questions that would shed light on the process of creation, and indeed, he does not. Even his definitions of modal improvisations are weak (neither useful to the complete non-musician, nor an accurate description of the departure from 'functional harmony' to 'modality'. It's sort of right for "So What" and "Flamenco Sketches", but pretty off for "All Blues" and especially "Blue in Green" which fuses modal and tonal music)... A book focused on a single album would also benefit from transcriptions of if not the entire album, at least some representative parts of it. Even if Kahn couldn't do them himself, solo transcriptions should not have been hard to come by, since Miles' "So What" and Kelly's "Freddie Freeloader" solos may be the most transcribed solos of all times. Visually, the book is quite beautifully put together. It might make a nice present for someone who really likes the album (enough to want to read 200 pages about it, but not be very interested in what else Miles did after 1959). However, if you're a fan looking for any new insights into this album, you'll be disappointed. There is nothing here that wouldn't have more appropiately presented in some very well written liner notes.
Rating: 
Summary: Lots of fillers
Review: Half of the book is great, the part where the author actually writes about the making of Kind of blue and the brief live appearences by the KOB band. Other than that she fills 1/4 of the book taking about Miles carrer up to KOB. Most people whou would buy a book about KOB already know all this stuff. But the really boring part is the last chapter, taking about what was the jazz scene after KOB was released, to finally conclude that none of it had anything to do with KOB. She spents too much time taking about Ornette and co. vs. KOB and there is really no point in it.
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