Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Blue Moment



"Kind of blue" is probably the jazz album owned by most people who don´t listen to jazz regularly, and the one album that most jazz fans have several editions of. "Kind of blue" was released in 1959 with Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb and Bill Evans.

The book "The Blue Moment" by Richard Williams (Faber & Faber 2009) tracks Miles steps up to "Kind of Blue" and the modal jazz (meetings with Gil Evans og George Russell), and also the impact this album had (and still has) later on. Wright follows some of the musicians on the album (Coltrane, Evans), and finds traces of "Kind of Blue" and Miles´work in minimalism (Terry Riley and others), soul, disco, funk, rock (Velvet Underground and Soft Machine), Acid Jazz (Ronny Jordan), ECM and Rune Grammofon.
 I´ll be honest with you, and admit that I didn´t always see the connections that clearly, as Wright gets a bit off the tracks, but I´m sure you will!
This is an interesting and entertaining book!

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