Kaplan, Kahn & Kaplan

A trio of books that combine as well as Evans, La Faro, and Motion.

In this post, I will talk about 3 books.

  1. 1959: The Year Everything Changed
  2. Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece
  3. 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the lost empire of cool

The three authors are all different people, despite the first and last sharing a surname Fred Kaplan, Ashley Kahn, and James Kaplan

Fred Kaplan has written mostly on Military History, and his book on 1959 is a great way to get some context on the "year that changed jazz."

Ashley Kahn is a music historian and journalist known for his work on jazz and popular music. Some of the books he has written include:

  1. "Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece"
  2. "A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album"
  3. "The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records"
  4. "The Art of the Album Cover: A History and a How-To"
  5. "The Music of Miles Davis: A Study & Analysis of Compositions and Solo Transcriptions from the Great Jazz Composer and Improvisor"

James Kaplan is a well-known author and biographer. Some of the books he has written include:

  1. "Sinatra: The Chairman" - A comprehensive biography of legendary singer Frank Sinatra.
  2. "Sinatra: The Voice" - Another biography focusing on the early years of Frank Sinatra's life and career.

All three books are available in print and E-book editions, and the two Kaplans are also available as audiobooks.

I strongly recommend them in the order above. 1959 sets the scene. Kind of Blue goes into great musical detail about the making of the album that tops the many “Best Jazz Albums of All Time” list, and 3 Shades of Blue looks at the intertwined lives of three of the key protagonists of Kind of Blue.

Every so often I go back to Kind of Blue to check if the accolades are still deserved, and every time I am blown away by the sheer beauty of the album. Practicing musicians and particularly jazz musicians probably know every solo on the record, with the possible exception of Flamenco Sketches, which has a more meandering nature. The 50th-anniversary edition of the recordings allows you to experience the recordings Kahn heard when the master tapes were played in December 1999 for him at Sony Studios. Sony had absorbed many record labels, including Columbia Records, which they acquired in 1988. The false starts and alternate takes are fascinating, as are the inclusion of the 1958 recordings with the same or similar lineup. The 3rd disc is not a CD but a DVD and is well worth the purchase.

The 'talking heads' are particularly interesting. Bill Cosby, (before his fall from grace), gives an interesting personal account of how Miles Davis was influential to young music fans in the 1950s, and a cadre of great musicians discuss the album with insight. Ashley Kahn features, of course, and for piano players, the views of Herbie Hancock are particularly insightful. Herbie would, of course, be key to the second great Miles acoustic band with Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and Wayne Shorter.

The 30th Street studio had a huge effect on the quality of the Columbia records of the time. For me, that old Armenian church is the 7th player in the sextet. The Steinway model D piano that lived there may be the eighth! That piano has been captured as a sampled instrument by Cinesamples as Piano in Blue.

The final book of the triptych is 3 Shades of Blue and focuses on the three chords of the 6-strand rope that made Kind of Blue. If you only read one of the books, this gives an overview, drawing from the existing material, including Ashley Kahn's work. James Kaplan has written authoritative books on Frank Sinatra and Irving Berlin and helped bring Jerry Lewis’s Dean and Me autobiography into the world. His journalistic instincts make for a great read/listen. It's a book that can lead to further study like Impulse : the House that Trane Built (also by Ashley Kahn) or The Davis/Quincy Troupe Miles Autobiography or How My Heart Sings, the Bill Evans Biography by Petter Pettinger.

Sometimes investigating a subject can make it less appealing, but these three books have enriched my understanding of Kind of Blue, which, for me, is still “the most “ to say the least, and would be a Desert Island Disc for sure.

Simon Whiteside 2024

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