The most popular and influential jazz album of all time is Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. Released in late summer, 1959, the album witnesses the musical confluence of Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (saxophone), and Bill Evans (piano). While we shouldn’t forget Cannonball Adderly, Wynton Kelly, Chambers or Cobb, its the interplay of the big three that create the magic.

Three Shades of Blue is biographer James Kaplan’s story of an era. Using Kind of Blue to hold the threads together, Kaplan tells the history of Jazz from the 1950s through the 1970s with a focus on the lives and legacies of Davis, Coltrane, and Evans.

Two themes rise to the surface in almost every chapter: racism and heroin. It’s impossible to understate the impact these themes had on the jazz scene in 1950s America. As the work unfolds, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of music we would have, had these evils been removed from the mix. Kaplan debunks the myth that heroin helps musicians to play better (despite Yardbird’s unearthly capacity to shoot up and play like a prodigy). On the other hand, the devastation that the twin blights of drugs and racism brought certainly impacted the mood, the tenor of the music.

Three Shades of Blue is a great book for any music lover. Kaplan’s grasp of musical theory made it a delight (for this musician) to read. I found myself regularly calling up an album or song on Spotify to listen to while reading Kaplan’s discussion. Kind of Blue and the setting that produced it is an indelible era in western music. Kaplan’s an excellent guide.

Kaplan, James. Three Shades of Blue: Miles Davis John Coltrane Bill Evans and the Lost Empire of Cool. New York: Penguin, 2024.