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Clawing at the Limits of Cool: Miles Davis, John Coltrane and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever

Clawing at the Limits of Cool: Miles Davis, John Coltrane and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever

by Farah Jasmine Griffin (Author), SalimWahington (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 2008

    $18.02
Synopsis

When trumpeter and bandleader Miles Davis chose the members of his quintet in 1955, he passed over respected saxophonists to pick out the relatively untested John Coltrane. His unlikely choice would set the course not just for each of their careers but for jazz. Clawing at the Limits of Cool examines the profound implications that the collaboration would have on African-American culture, producing such landmark albums as Milestones and Kind of Blue. With different personal as well as musical styles, the two men could not be more unlike one another. One exemplified the tough cool of the '50s while the other made the transition from unfocused junkie to religious pilgrim.Drawing on cultural history and precise musical detail, this book illuminates the importance that the pairing would have for jazz worldwide.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 304
 Edition: 1st Thomas Dunne Books Ed
 Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books,US
Published: 01 Aug 2008
ISBN 10: 0312327854
ISBN 13: 9780312327859

Media Reviews
This marvelous book constitutes a much-needed paradigm shift in the story of jazz---a shift that skillfully fuses cultural and music criticism with a rich historical sensibility that highlights black genius as an artistic exploration and an existential adventure against the backdrop of our flawed democratic experiment called America. Griffin and Washington are preeminent critics of our time! ---Cornel West, author of Race Matters Griffin and Washington explore the lives of two of the geniuses of twentieth-century music and follow them as their paths crossed to form what Amiri Baraka once called the 'all-time classical hydrogen bomb and switchblade band.' Though neither Miles Davis nor John Coltrane were wont to elaborate on their work in words, their lives and their music nonetheless still speak to us. This lucid and graceful book situates these two men in their times, listens closely to what they played, and the result is a social and musical history that is rich and always illuminating. ---John Szwed, author of So What: The Life of Miles Davis
Author Bio
Farah Jasmine Griffin is a professor of English and comparative literature and African American Studies at Columbia University, where she has served as director of the Institute for Research in African American studies. She is the author of Who Set You Flowin' The African-American Migration Narrative and If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday, and has edited several collections of letters and essays. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper's Bazaar, Callaloo, and African American Review, and she is also a frequent commentator on WNPR's News & Notes. An accomplished saxophonist, Salim Washington has led two bands, the Roxbury Blues Aesthetic and the Harlem Arts Ensemble. He has recorded four CDs as a bandleader, including Love in Exile and Harlem Homecoming. He is an avid composer and teaches music and Africana Studies at Brooklyn College.