Miles Davis had made a staggering impact on the jazz scene by the age of 22. The mention of his name alone sparked associations with the genre among many. In the vividly pictured and acutely captivating narrative by James Kaplan, which centres around jazz from 1942 to 1967, Miles naturally steps into the limelight. His journey is charted alongside the stories of three others who, together, produced the album known as Kind of Blue.
Miles left his hometown of Alton, Illinois at 19, seeking his future in New York where he studied at the esteemed Juilliard school. Known for speaking his mind, he somehow wound up replacing Dizzy Gillespie in Charlie Parker’s band, a move that bemused many. Unlike Gillespie, Miles wasn’t capable of hitting the high notes on the trumpet at a rapid speed, which caused him to opt-out when Parker decided to record the popular piece, Ko-Ko.
However, despite not being a virtuoso, Miles was making waves in his own manner. As commentator Loren Schoenberg relayed to Kaplan, Parker recruited Miles for the same reason Miles later hired John Coltrane: he saw an unpolished gem. This ability to spot and foster talent in its raw form was a trait Miles displayed time and time again, as witnessed in his formation of acclaimed bands like the Nonet, two quintets, and the Kind of Blue sextet.
The book at times plays out like a cyclical hero’s journey. Tired of Parker’s issues related to his ego and substances, a breath of fresh air came in the form of Gil Evans. Evans, largely known for his unconventional arrangement style for Claude Thornhill, shared a similar love for modern classical music as Parker. Unlike Parker, plagued by flaws and addictions, Evans served as a catalyst in Davis’s ongoing pursuit of musical symbiosis and purpose.
“3 Shades of Blue. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and the Lost Empire of Cool: a Stirring Eulogy”.
The cost my family bore while caring for my handicapped sibling was significant, and the uncertainty of what lies ahead hangs over us. One young prodigy in finance prophesied an impending economic catastrophe in a rather frank and distressing manner: ‘Chaos beckons, things will get significantly worse.’
In 1949, Gerry Mulligan entertained the idea of creating an ‘ensemble of dreams’. Miles Davies was instrumental in turning this idea into reality, forming the band often referred to as the Birth of the Cool. Initial successes was nary, but the Nonet eventually wielded considerable influence, shaping the Post-Bebop trend known as West Coast Jazz. Their pristine collaborations set the precedent for future team-ups of Evans and Davis.
Davis quickly lost interest in the ‘cool’ trend, spending the subsequent five years crafting an East Coast alternative. He engaged in sporadic sessions with Prestige and Blue Note, resulting in 1954’s audio release titled Walkin’. This, according to Gary Giddins, helped instigate and codify the counter-reformation dubbed ‘hard bop’. So, what might’ve caused this impetuous virtuoso a delay of half a decade? Simply put, his fixation with narcotics.
Author Kaplan explores the trifolity confronting a jazz musician of that period throughout his book – carving out a unique artistic identity, earning a living without compromising on the art and wrestling free from the shackles of drug addiction. Narcotics, in this narrative, take on the roles of villains and deceptions that the artists must overcome. In Kaplan’s view, “Bird’s otherworldly genius and brazen drug consumption were so overwhelming that naive musicians found it next to impossible to resist the allure of narcotics as a path to jazz mastery.”
John Coltrane’s addiction was rooted in profound grief and sorrow. His relationship with drugs was one of desperation and clandestinity, not quite fitting into the typically ‘cool’ jazz culture.
When the tumultuous struggle to overcome heroin addiction subsided for Miles, the sadly premature demise of Bird in ’55 at the age of 34 marked a turning point. His path, initially thought promising, had instead led to a cul-de-sac. Giddins noted that Miles’s persona became synonymous with the very essence of cool jazz that he once spurned. His style, projection and speech redefined the image of a jazz artist – a young, nonchalant, peeved yet captivating figure. He became tremendously popular after the Newport Jazz Festival performance that same year, leading Columbia Records to propose a lucrative contract. Columbia’s A&R chief George Avakian envisaged a clean, rejuvenated Miles as an irresistible attraction even to non-jazz enthusiasts.
John Coltrane’s dependency, in contrast, was rooted in profound grief and despair. In contrast to the conventional perception of ‘cool’ jazz, his addiction came with an aura of quiet desperation, embarassment and remorse. His early years were not marked with much professional progress resulting from this addiction; dismissed by Dizzy Gillespie, let go by his mentor Johnny Hodges, he still had a unique style but was yet to gain momentum in the jazz circuit of Philadelphia. Despite being in his late twenties, he did not exhibit signs of the musical brilliance he was to become.
During his audition for Miles, the interaction between Coltrane and Miles was far from ideal. Coltrane found Miles’s silent stares disconcerting and walked out of the audition. Surprisingly, it was Davis who convinced him to join. The first brilliant quintet consisted of Paul Chambers on Bass, Philly Joe Jones on Drums and Red Garland on Piano. As Ashley Kahn puts it, their unique sound – a sophisticated mix of funky hard bop – was a game-changer. Their magnetic performance seized the West Coast jazz scene unarguably. The albums they produced, notably Cookin’, Workin’, Relaxin’, Steamin’ and ‘Round About Midnight, signified Davis’s peak and foreshadowed Coltrane’s imminent rise. Kaplan considers Coltrane’s explosive solo in ‘Round About Midnight to be his first significant performance. Later, pianist Bill Evans would credit Miles for believing in Coltrane’s talent which saved him from oblivion.
Bill Evans emerged on the scene, with classical training and a fascination for jazz. He was interested in simplifying traditional chord structures for a more streamlined, modal style. His first trio album may have only sold 800 copies to its name, but his unique style of play was precisely what caught the attention of Miles. His less-is-more approach to chord changes was right on the money in tune with Miles’s vision. Milestones, from the eponymous 1958 album, marked a turning point leading to the substitution of the conventional-minded Red Garland with Evans.
At this point, Miles’s records were selling like hotcakes. A collaboration between Davis and Gil Evans was orchestrated by George Avakian and, as Kaplan notes, the ingenious ability of Evans to unite the complexities of classical western and jazz music resulted in the twin successes of Miles Ahead and Porgy and Bess.
Davis had to let Coltrane go for the second time due to his heroin addiction fit. Soon, bandleader Coltrane would rejoin the quintet, upgraded to a sextet with the addition of Cannonball Adderley. Following a shared time appreciating Ravel and Khachaturian with Miles, Bill Evans was at the heart of assembling the record on March 2nd, 1959 at the Thirtieth Street Studio in New York, which turned out to be the timeless classic, Kind of Blue. The record stands as the highest selling jazz record in history, serving as an introduction to the genre for many.
After this, the mainstream audience that Avakian had painstakingly nurtured shifted their focus. Despite the massive success of Sketches of Spain, the following records made with the second quintet featuring Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, barely garnered attention outside of jazz critics circles. The quintet was trying, as Gary Giddins puts it, to navigate a unique path amid jazz orthodoxy, modalism, vanguard movements and rock dominance, while rock bands played to packed stadiums and Miles’s quintet performed for perfunctory crowds.
Coltrane’s musical trajectory took him from the compelling Giant Steps album, through the deeply spiritual A Love Supreme, and into territories which, where one stands, were either beautifully contemplative or lapsed into the realm of free jazz ambiguity. His premature demise enshrined him as a symbol of emancipation and transcendence. Conversely, there are contrasting views about Bill Evans; some suggest he experienced limited musical maturation following Kind of Blue, while others contend that his resistance to changing trends drove him further into his unique artistic vision.
James Brandon Lewis Quartet are currently spearheading an exhilarating wave in the Jazz world with their contemporary saxophone renditions. However, the question arises as to why jazz as an industry is still dominated by a predominantly male line-up.
The heart of Kaplan’s book is based on Wynton Marsalis and Stanley Crouch’s viewpoint that Moving to electronic instruments during 1969’s “In A Silent Way,” credited with giving birth to jazz-rock, was a double-crossing of traditional jazz ethos. Although Kaplan gently rebukes Crouch for being an obstinate purist, he sidesteps from the aesthetic debate. Given that Kaplan declares in the preface that the entirety of the jazz he consumes or yearns for was generated between 1942 and 1967, gives the reader a clear insight into his predilections. His description of the bands forged by the protégés of Miles Davis echoes this sentiment, as he states that they kept the notion of jazz entertainment alive.
An exploration of Hancock’s and Shorter’s pre-fusion successes, together with a wider discussion of the hard bop movement in the 1960s, could have highlighted artists such as Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard. However, Kaplan successfully captures a striking era of cultural movement during which some of the most esteemed art of the 20th century came into existence. As the author of the definitive dual-volume biography of Frank Sinatra, he gives an engrossing and eloquent dedication to a compelling era of music.
For additional insights, recommended reads include “Visions of Jazz: The First Century” by Gary Giddins, and “The Birth of Bebop” by Scott DeVeaux. Giddins presents a captivating collection of his finest Village Voice columns offering a historical account of jazz through 80 insightful, sophisticated and masterfully penned essays.
Diving into a stimulating and profoundly intricate sociocultural exploration, we trace the journey of jazz as it transformed from a much-loved dancing style (swing) to a sophisticated and intricate form of artistic music known as bebop.
“Rat Pack Confidential”, a book penned by Shawn Levy and published by Fourth Estate in 1999, is a captivating collective biography. It focuses on Frank, Dean, Sammy and the remaining two members. The narrative revolves around their pinnacle moment at the Sands in Las Vegas, where Levy encapsulates the nostalgic charm of an era lost, the final stand of vintage entertainment amidst the onslaught of adolescent culture.