Kahn to some degree deconstructs the masterpiece , concentrating on studio chatter and the halting technical processes of pre-digital recording . Williams , by contrast , largely takes the album as a given – a “ moment ” – that combines and compresses paradox in the society and culture of its time . Though he does not make the explicit connection , Kind of Blue is the soundtrack to David Riesman ’ s famous sociological study The Lonely Crowd in which a mass society , defined by aspirational consumerism , the undifferentiated suburban sprawl , the identical front yard and automobile , barely conceals a sense of isolation and separation from others . One can say that almost whatever its musical surrounding , whether urgent bebop , cool modal algorithms , urban funk or abstraction , Miles Davis ’ sound is almost always best described as lonely .
Perversely , what brought this society together , apart from cohorts of shared economic status , or colour , or ethnic origin , was the fear – and more than fear , imminence – of destruction . The reissue of Williams ’ book features a cover with an atomic blast field coming out of the vertical bell of a trumpet . This wasn ’ t unusual imagery at the time . One thinks of The Atomic Mr . Basie , a latter-day swing masterpiece in which the mushroom cloud of a nuclear test is intended to convey the blast of the best-schooled band in the business , a curious syncretism that doesn ’ t quite comfortably fit either end of the metaphor . To that degree , a nuclear blast seems an unlikely choice for Williams ’ typically quiet and thoughtful analysis , but it usefully serves as a confirming acknowledgement that Miles ’ music is in no way detached from the realities of his time , and these were brutal realities . Two years before Kind of Blue , Norman Mailer had published the controversial essay “ The White Negro ” in a special issue of the journal Dissent . It was subsequently published as a pamphlet by City Lights , with a famous “ negative ” cover that turned white skin black and all other features an
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