cover image It's About That Time: Miles Davis On and Off the Record

It's About That Time: Miles Davis On and Off the Record

Richard Cook, . . Oxford Univ., $27 (373pp) ISBN 978-0195322668

Though he didn't set out to write the definitive take on Miles Davis's discography, jazz expert Cook (Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopedia ) has done just that. By chronologically organizing his material around 14 seminal recordings, Cook expertly traces Davis's evolution as an artist from his early days playing with Charlie Parker to his last official studio release, 1992's posthumous Doo-Bop , which Cook calls an “uneventful, rote hip-hop record which Davis often seems to have wandered into by accident.” This candor and objectivity elevate the book above more pedestrian efforts to explore (and more often exalt) Davis's body of work; clearly an admirer, Cook has the wherewithal to laud works such as Porgy and Bess , counting the album as a monument to Davis and his collaborators, while conceding that some pieces are too long and too slow. Despite Davis's voluminous output, Cook puts both landmark studio releases and bootlegs into perspective while keeping the book on track, a seemingly effortless skill that allows him to analyze the details of Birth of the Cool or Bitches Brew without losing sight of the big picture—or the reader. Cook's thoughtful, illuminating criticism and boundless knowledge of his subject make this a rich and satisfying read for jazz aficionados and novices alike. (Jan.)