I’m currently reading a highly informative and authoritative biography of Miles Davis by Ian Carr. (Spookily, a book I ordered at about the same time that the author died).

I’m a latecomer to Jazz and there’s still a lot within this genre that leaves me cold, much as I’ve tried to like it. Many years ago I bought a copy of Miles Davis’ ‘A Kind of Blue’ and ‘Sketches of  Spain’ – the former mainly because it is so often cited as the greatest Jazz album ever made. I can appreciate the superlative musicianship and the super cool vibe it has but I can’t honestly say that I am not as excited by it as I am by rock music.

I assumed, therefore, that because I grew up on a diet of The Beatles, Motown and, later on, Prog-Rock and Punk meant that my ears were simply not attuned to what there was to ‘get’ about these ‘classic’ Jazz records. Continue reading →