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

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Though he didn't set out to write the definitive take on Miles Davis' discography, jazz expert Cook (Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopedia) has done just that. Chronologically organized around 14 seminal recordings, Cook expertly traces Davis's evolution as an artist from his early days playing with Charlie Parker to his last official studio release, 1992's posthumous Doo Bop, which Cook calls an "uneventful, rote hip hop record which Davis often seems to have wandered into by accident." This candor and objectivity elevate the book above more pedestrian efforts to explore (and more often exalt) Davis's body of work; clearly an admirer, Cooke has the wherewithal to laud works such as Porgy and Bess, counting the album as a monument to Davis and his collaborators, while conceding that some pieces are too long and too slow. Despite Davis's voluminous output, Cook puts both landmark studio releases and bootlegs into perspective while keeping the book on track, a seemingly effortless skill that allows him to analyze the details of Birth of the Cool or Bitches Brew without losing sight of the big picture-or the reader. Cook's thoughtful, illuminating criticism and boundless knowledge of his subject make this a rich and satisfying read for jazz aficionados and novices alike.
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Review

"Cook's takes on the music of Miles Davis are incisive and refreshing. He gets inside the music and makes it palpable. Like the great American jazz critic Whitney Balliett (1926-2007), Cook had the knack, the knowledge, and the poetry to discern and elucidate the mystery of jazz without desiccating its flesh, blood, and neural pathways. Cook's insightful and literate provides listeners familiar with the music of Miles Davis new listening angles, and those unfamiliar with his music valuable reference points from which to start listening."-Laurence Svirchev, American Music
"Though he didn't set out to write the definitive take on Miles Davis's discography, jezz expert Cook has done just that.... Cook's thoughtful, illuminating criticism and boundless knowledge of his subject make this a rich and satisfying read for jazz aficionados and novices alike."--Publishers Weekly [starred review]
"Few authors capture the mystery of improvised music as succinctly as British critic Richard Cook."--Matthew Lurie, Time Out: Chicago
"Cook's strength is wittily showing, with lots of fresh observations, how Davis's music was a continual journey."--New York Sun
"A worthy overview of his career and music."--New York Sun
"It's hard to imagine a more ideal writer for this projectIt's About That Time brings fresh insight to a lifetime of music and can help even a longtime connoisseur hear it in a whole new way."--Steve Greenlee, The Boston Globe
"Considering its scope, About That Time is a fast and breezy read."--New York Sun
"Cook hangs It's About Time on his own bandstand-cozy judgements, which are nearly as colorful as the late Whitney Balliett's and as impassioned as Gary Giddins'."--Jay Harvey, The Indianapolis Star
"A fascinating new portrait of the protean horn man, which offers detailed and perceptive analysis of the trumpeter's key albums."--Charles Waring, Mojo
"Outstanding."--David Isaacson, Word
"The real reasons why there was never anyone cooler than Miles becomes clear."--Observer
"Valuable a systematic and comprehensive examination of Davis's recordings, objective to a fault as Cook unpicks them and engages in a sustained exercise of close listening which reveals Davis's creations not to float serenely above and apart from his turbulent life, but very much subject to the circumstances in which they were made the author's manifest expertise and anecdotal knowledge make him an extremely reliable guide through Davis's back catalogue. It's About That Time is suitable both for those entirely new to Davis or those steeped in him."--David Stubbs, Wire
"Cook characteristically shines a light into unconsidered corners and magnifies details to reveal the key importance of what might otherwise seem minor gestures This book will not only make tyros want to hear the records, but will send Antediluvian Davis admirers like me rushing to remind ourselves of forgotten minutiae, weigh our assessments against Cook's, or just savour favourite moments again. Big fun!"--Barry Witherden, BBC Music Magazine
"Cook is a jazz expert who scrutinizes 14 key recordings by the great trumpeter-composer. Along the way, readers get an insider's view of Davis the private man." --Allen Pierleoni, Sacramento Bee

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (January 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195322665
• ISBN-13: 978-0195322668
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #732,651 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best miles davis books available, February 28, 2007

By	M. Bauer "M." (Colorado) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Who is this for?, April 27, 2007

By	Hank Schwab (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews

OK, the scholarship is impeccable, but who is this for? If you don't know the music, the descriptions of the bands and the albums don't do much for you. On the other hand, if you're such a Miles fan that you have all this stuff, why do you need Richard Cook telling you what you're hearing? You've probably read the liner notes to the CD's or boxes, and it doesn't seem to me that there is much that he adds. This seems to be mostly an expansion on Cook's writing on Miles's music in the Penguin Guide, and if you want to know his opinion as to which CD's to buy, I'd take a look at that instead. As good as this is, I'm not sure why you'd buy it.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable and generally well-informed. Maybe a little peccable., May 14, 2007

By	Steven Chall (Chapel Hill, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm having fun reading this book. It's a pleasure to dwell on lots of my favorite Miles records in the company of a highly knowledgeable fan. Cook knows well lots that I don't, and he has interesting opinions on everything. Not that I always agree: He damns "Moon Dreams" with faint praise -- I've always felt it's one of the two strongest tunes from "Birth of the Cool," and he gives even shorter shrift to the ominous "Deception," which in my mind is the other one. Of course, sometimes I pound the table in agreement, as when he calls "Billy Boy" "an irritating distraction" (for all its acknowledged groove) on the "Milestones" record. That is of course what's fun about these kinds of books (or conversations). It's like comparing sports teams: everybody (i.e., nobody) wins the argument.

There are some less satisfying aspects to the book, such as when he neglects to include the French horn section in his listing of the instrumentation on "Sketches of Spain," surely one of the more important aspects of the sound of that record. Or when he puts the bridge in "Miles" (or "Milestones") as A Aeolean, when I've always heard it as A Dorian (the way the rhythm section treats it: scale on the 2nd degree of G Maj rather than on the 6th degree of C Maj). Maybe I'm being picky...or wrong. And maybe it makes a big difference in the feel of the song.

There's also a peculiar almostness to Cook's language, that recalls to me Mark Twain's statement that "The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning." Once again, it's all a matter of opinion and connotation, of course.

Then, sometimes his word choice is thought-provoking: he more than once refers to Miles's sometime ballad approach as "preening." Not sure I agree, but I'm not sure I don't. It certainly asks me to relisten, carefully. Thanks for that.

All in all, an enjoyable trip through Miles's discography with a knowledgeable if not entirely impeccable guide.