Upcoming Events
3 Shades Of Blue (Hardcover Book)

3 Shades Of Blue (Hardcover Book)

USD $35.00

From the author of the definitive biography of Frank Sinatra, the story of how jazz arrived at the pinnacle of American culture in 1959, told through the journey of three towering artists—Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans—who came together to create the most iconic jazz album of all time, Kind of Blue

The myth of the ’60s depends on the 1950s being the “before times” of conformity, segregation, straightness—The Lonely Crowd and The Organization Man. This all carries some truth, but it does nothing to explain how, in 1959, America’s great indigenous art form, jazz, reached the height of its power and popularity, thanks to a number of Black geniuses so legendary they go by one name—Monk, Mingus, Rollins, Coltrane, and, above all, Miles. Nineteen fifty-nine saw Miles, Coltrane, Bill Evans, and more come together to record what is widely considered the greatest jazz album of all time, and certainly the bestselling: Kind of Blue.

3 Shades of Blue is James Kaplan’s magnificent account of the paths of the three giants to the mountaintop of 1959 and beyond. It’s a book about music, and business, and race, and heroin, and the towns that gave jazz its home, from New Orleans and New York to Kansas City, Philadelphia, Chicago, and LA. It’s an astonishing meditation on creativity and the strange hothouses that can produce its full flowering. It’s a book about the great forebears of this golden age, particularly Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and the disrupters, like Ornette Coleman, who would take the music down truly new paths. And it’s about why the world of jazz most people know is a museum to this never-replicated period.

But above all, 3 Shades of Blue is a book about three very different men—their struggles, their choices, their tragedies, their greatness. Bill Evans had a gruesome downward spiral; John Coltrane took the mystic’s path into a space far away from mainstream concerns. Miles had three or four sea changes in him before the end. The tapestry of their lives is, in Kaplan’s hands, an American odyssey with no direction home. It is also a masterpiece, a book about jazz that is as big as America.

3 Shades Of Blue (Hardcover Book)

Available: Usually Ships in 10 Days

FAQs on 3 Shades Of Blue (Hardcover Book)

How much does "3 Shades Of Blue (Hardcover Book)" cost at Blerds Underground?

The price of "3 Shades Of Blue (Hardcover Book)" at Blerds Underground is USD $35.00.

Who is the publisher of "3 Shades Of Blue (Hardcover Book)"?

The publisher of "3 Shades Of Blue (Hardcover Book)" is Penguin Books.

What are the genres of "3 Shades Of Blue (Hardcover Book)"?

The genres of "3 Shades Of Blue (Hardcover Book)" are Biography & Autobiography - Music, Music, and Music - Genres & Styles - Jazz.

What category does "3 Shades Of Blue (Hardcover Book)" fall under?

"3 Shades Of Blue (Hardcover Book)" falls under the category of Books (Hardcover).

Who is the writer of "3 Shades Of Blue (Hardcover Book)"?

The writer of "3 Shades Of Blue (Hardcover Book)" is James Kaplan.