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

By Richard Cook

Book Overview

Here is quite simply one of the most original books about a jazz musician ever published--a biography-cum-discography that focuses in turn on fourteen major albums recorded by Miles Davis, using them as a jumping off point for an illuminating discussion of the turbulent life and work of the "Evil Genius of Jazz."
Richard Cook, a veteran writer respected throughout the jazz world, looks at such landmark recordings as Birth of the Cool, Miles Ahead, Kind of Blue, The Complete Live at The Plugged Nickel, In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and Live at Montreux. Each of these recordings is considered in detail, illuminating their contribution to Davis's development as instrumentalist, group leader, and composer. But Cook goes well beyond these fourteen albums, evaluating all the trumpeter's recordings (official and bootleg), and relating them to events in Miles's life as well as to wider currents in contemporary music. Cook helps us disentangle Miles the legendary figure from the music itself, to re-hear and reconsider this marvelous body of work ranging over four exhilarating decades. The author also highlights the indispensable contributions of sidemen such as John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, John Scofield, and many others, as well as calling for a reassessment of the importance of such "satellite" figures as Gil Evans, Bill Evans, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams and Chick Corea in the development of Miles's music.
A comprehensive and rigorous guide to the music and life of Miles Davis, It's About That Time is a stunning book that burns away the fog of myth that surrounds its complex and contrary subject.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195322665
• ISBN13: 9780195322668
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Miles & Miles

The author discusses the career of Miles by focusing on his huge legacy of recordings. The more traditional jazz of Miles was basically between 1945 and 1966. There are 65 record entries in that time frame. The total includes major label as well as bootlegs. From 1967 thru 1991, the year of his death, there are 66 more albums. Miles made his mark in the jazz world with his early playing with Charlie Parker, his Birth Of The Cool Album,Sonny Rollins, and then his band that included Coltrane,Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. Later on he had sidemen such as Wynton Kelly, Hank Mobley, Sonny Stitt,Bill Evans,Jimmy Cobb and Cannonball Adderly. Of course his collaborations with Gil Evans were significant. Next was what I would call the transitional group comprised of George Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. Personally, I lost interest in Miles Davis as he moved more and more into the rock area and seemed to be in search of a new musical identity. So, this book fills in that time period fairly well. I was amazed that so many of the later recordings basically consisted of engineering edits. A worthwhile, if somewhat tedious read. By the way, the author deserves some kind of a medal for listening to all the albums. Particularly, most of the later ones.

one of the best miles davis books available

There are many books written about Miles Davis. Several of them are excellent (Ian Carr's, the auto-biography, etc). This book by Richard Cook ranks with the best. This book's focus is the music. Although Cook uses some definitive Davis recordings as a device to divide chapters and time periods in his career, the author does not limit his analysis strictly to those recordings. The end of each chapter includes several other recordings from the period, including some European imports and common bootlegs. As co-author of the Penguin Jazz Guide and his own encyclopedia of jazz, Richard Cook knows his jazz, his recordings, and his Miles Davis. His analysis is interesting and enlightening. I highly recommend this book. p.s. Don't miss the excellent professional reviews listed above.

Good overview of recording career

The book discusses the recordings and related events and associates in Miles Davis' life, taking 14 albums considered by the author to be of particular importance and making each of these the focal points of the book's chapters. All other albums are discussed within the chronolgically aranged chapters, making the book a good overview of the Davis discograpy. There is also an accessibly arranged discography of official live and studio recordings spanning the years 1945-1991. My only gripe is that the printing of the photographs (i.e. in the first edition) is rather poor quality, with some detail in the darker areas appearing as solid black. Hopefully later editions will improve this.