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3 Shades of Blue

Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans & the Lost Empire of Cool

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3 Shades of Blue

By: James Kaplan
Narrated by: Dion Graham
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1959 saw Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the other members of Miles’s sextet come together to record the seminal jazz album of all time Kind of Blue.

3 Shades of Blue is a magnificent, blended biography on the meandering paths which led Miles, Coltrane and Evans to the mountaintop of 1959 and the aftermath. It’s a book about music, business, race, addiction and the cities that gave jazz its home; from New York and LA to Philadelphia, Chicago and Kansas City. Kaplan meditates on creativity and the great forebears of this golden age who would take the music down strange new paths.

Above all, this is a book about three very different men – their struggles, their choices, their tragedies, their greatness. The tapestry of their lives is, in Kaplan’s hands, an American Odyssey, with no direction home.

©2024 James Kaplan (P)2024 Canongate Books Entertainment & Celebrities History & Criticism Music Celebrity New York
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The engaging and deeply personal style of writing brings the characters to life. brilliantly narrated too.

Fabulous book for music lovers

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Really enjoyed this audio book best listening for years well done to James Kaplan a must read for everyone get it now 👌

Brilliant 🤩

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Wonderful story expertly written. And the narration: well I couldn’t really imagine it being any better than it is. A great cultural experience overall.

Delightful all the way

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Engaging, insightful, and very light on amateur physiology, a great sense of motion and interaction, and the sense of ‘this almost didn’t happen’ but the fact it did is beautiful, a great work, a fine entertaining read.

A standout group biography

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