Some Thoughts on 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool (2024) by James Kaplan

Three Shades of Blue is an interesting book, both in its contents and formulation. In the acknowledgement, Kaplan explains the history of how this book came about, noting that it was a pivot offered by Scott Moyers of Penguin Press. It is, again, an interesting concept - a three-pronged biography detailing three of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, united by their participation in two very notable studio dates that produced the mythic Miles Davis record, Kind of Blue. Kaplan definitely puts the work in, and there’s a lot of good stuff here. My impression is that jazz veterans probably won’t find too much new information, though the content is weaved together nicely. It doesn’t delve into enough technical detail to be useful to musicians, though that’s clearly not the target demographic and it is much more of a “life and times” novel of three exceptional lives. It does offer quick hits on a number of other jazzers such as Ornette Coleman, Wynton Kelly, Cannonball Adderley, Wallace Roney, Red Garland, Charlie Parker, and a number of others whose lives intersected with the titular trios’. Interviews with Sonny Rollins, Roney, and many others add some fresh takes and perspectives, contributing to an enjoyable, if not revelatory, romp through the lives of our three subjects and the world of jazz as a whole.

Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/174156154-3-shades-of-blue

While an overall solid read even to those familiar with the material and the lore, it is a somewhat peculiar choice because there isn’t a ton of intersection in the lives of our three subjects apart from the two dates that yielded Kind of Blue, save for the period around the recording where the group was regularly performing together. This leads to an almost inevitable problem where there is a slightly disjointed feeling to the proceedings as we bop from Miles to Trane to Evans with increasing regularity as their stories interweave less and less. I don’t think there’s a particularly neat solution, and that doesn’t take away from the enjoyment as the pacing and interest is maintained throughout. Again it’s a somewhat strange choice when viewed from a purely jazz context, because all three are very different musicians and all had such different contributions to the jazz landscape, though the book does do an admirable job of using Miles especially (mostly due to his longer life and continuous branching out) to sketch the evolution of jazz more broadly.

There’s also a lot of good historical context offered by some prominent reactions of the time by the press and the public, giving the reader a better sense of how these titans of jazz and their innovations were received in their own time. None of these are particularly happy stories, and Kaplan treats the subject with the appropriate amount of gravitas while largely shying away from romanticizing any of it. Like the history of recorded music and jazz as a whole, drug abuse is a major theme in this work, and the potent-but-not-preachy depictions offer a sobering view for any musician considering following their example in that regard. It’s grim stuff, but Kaplan does a great job of making us root for our protagonists, even when we know ahead of time how it’s going to end.

The subject as a whole is tricky, because so much lore and mythos has developed around Kind of Blue and our three subjects that almost any account is going to feel somewhat incomplete, especially when you have all three competing for space. So the question of whether this book does justice to the musicians and the album is an impossible one, because that book does not and could not exist, such is the influence of these cats and this record. Yet it’s still a good read, at times great, and consistently intriguing. If this is your first entry or exposure to the secret world of jazz, you could certainly do a lot worse, and the book also provides ample avenues for additional exploration should you want to do some further reading. That said, most of this is well-trodden territory for jazz nerds, so your mileage may vary if you’re already in pretty deep.