Reddit reviews Miles

seconding the miles bio. very entertaining.

ted gioia's history of jazz is very comprehensive, and probably "the standard history", but a bit boring (imho). i guess what i really want to read is a history of european jazz in the last 40 years, say, and that is perhaps half a chapter of that book (understandably...).

a better history, for me, was why jazz happened by marc myers. while gioia explains who learnt from whom, and how all the music inter-relates, myers focuses on the politics, sociology, technology, economics, etc., of the time(s), and how all that shaped the music (each chapter is a separate theme - for example, the availability of LPs was probably one chapter, another was the rise in popularity of rock music, if i remember correctly). i found that much more interesting - it really explained some of the broad changes while gioia felt a lot more like genealogy.

would love to hear other suggestions. those are the only "jazz only" books i've read. [though i think this has been asked before...]

It's hard to say what he might or might not have. Ideas:

http://www.amazon.com/imagined-savior-far-easier-paint/dp/B00HGFIMK2

This is a jazz album that just came out this year and is pretty critically acclaimed. It's recent, so he might not have it.

http://www.amazon.com/Miles-Davis/dp/1451643187/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1419120324&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=Miles+Davis+autobiography

This is one of the best jazz musician autobiographies I've read. There's a chance that the guy might have read it already, though.