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  • 2/3/13 4:01 PMJazz article: It's About That Time: Miles Davis On And Off The Record by David Rickert

    Page 1 of 3http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=24584#.UQ6lVBwzJCc

    It's About That Time: Miles Davis On And Off The RecordBy Published: February 2, 2007

    Richard Cook

    It's About That Time: Miles Davis On And Off The Record

    ISBN: 978-0-19-532266-8

    Oxford University Press

    373 pages

    Hardcover, January 2007

    Miles Davis is one of the most thoroughly researched and documented

    musicians of all time. So a writer who wants to present him in a new light

    needs either to have a new approach or some significant writing chops. Happily, Richard Cook

    demonstrates both in It's About That Time: Miles Davis On And Off The Record.

    Cook is probably most familiar to jazz fans as the co-author of The Penguin Guide To Jazz On CD

    and the editor of Jazz Review magazine, and with these two demanding activities ongoing, one

    wonders where he found the time to write a book. Nevertheless, he has put together a terrific

    read, one that even the most well informed fan will enjoy.

    Some previous biographers have tackled Davis by focusing on his tempestuous relationships with

    producers, musicians and women as much as on the music. Cook's approach is to look at Davis

    solely via his recorded output, only discussing his personal life when it pertains to a particular

    session. Thus It's About That Time is a combination of a biography and a discography. Each

    chapter is centered around a particular album that is discussed at length, while other albums

    around the periphery are discussed more briefly. The end result reads very much like an extended

    entry from the Penguin Guidea perspective which plays to Cook's abilities as a writer, and a

    method he also used successfully in his authoritative Blue Note Records: The Biography (Secker &

    Warburg, 2001).

    Those familiar with Cook's writing style will recognise his trademark dry wit and clever metaphors.

    He has the rare gift of expressing ideas in a way that seems just right; even with well-worn topics

    like Kind Of Blue, Cook finds a novel turn of phrase. Consider this example, which describes Davis'

    DAVID RICKERT,

  • 2/3/13 4:01 PMJazz article: It's About That Time: Miles Davis On And Off The Record by David Rickert

    Page 2 of 3http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=24584#.UQ6lVBwzJCc

    playing on "Freddie Freeloader : "It is a clever mix of dynamics, plangent notes followed by soft,

    dying-away phrases, rests, a moment of jauntiness followed by a crestfallen blue note. Few have

    described Davis' playing any better. One can also marvel at how, throughout the book, Cook

    always finds a fresh way to describe Davis' playing.

    A book of this type is always an interesting read; there's analysis of records that you've listened to

    over and over and commentary on records that you've never heard (and some you probably never

    will). Cook is up to an appreciation of all aspects of Davis' career and not just the most celebrated

    ones. Thus your engagement with the book probably depends on which Davis records you admire

    most. As such the book tends to falter toward the end as Cook approaches Davis' 1980s and

    1990s records, which relatively few listeners bothered with. However, Cook does make sense of

    the patchwork 1970s albums, placing the recordings in their proper context, while also addressing

    Columbia's enthusiasm for releasing "complete sessions of albums with out-takes included (Cook's

    opinion: they aren't worth the trouble).

    Even if you have read every Davis biography available, It's About That Time will certainly be worth

    your while. As a complex artist, Davis resists being pigeonholed by any particular biographical

    approach, and Cook has provided a newly stimulating angle. His assessment of individual albums

    will, inevitably, be debated, but he generaly presents a balanced critique. A Davis newbie could

    easily use the book to build a collection of highlight albums (as well as noting those to avoid). If

    nothing else, it's a pleasure reading analyses of albums you already know and love by someone

    who evokes them so effectively. One longs for another book from Cook where once again the

    music, rather than the personality, is the focus. Charles Mingus, perhaps?