PRESS COMMENTS
“The most important book on Miles Davis ever. I was knocked out by Tingen’s knowledge of what to many people is a confusing period in Davis’s career and music. [Tingen’s] very open-ended way of writing allows in the magic that makes his debut volume a tantalising excursion into the unknown. Why Tingen’s book is so fascinating is that it makes you want to know more about this devil of a genius.”
– MARK PRENDERGAST, author of The Ambient Century in Bloomsbury Magazine. The entire on-line review is available here…
“Miles Beyond is masterfully done. The first chapter, “Listen,” is captivating and charismatic. It’s like an elevator, taking the reader up to the 26h floor where the rest of the story will be told… It seems lately that more people are getting into electric Miles, and this book gives them the tool with which to do it. It covers all of the stages, all of the bands, all of the personnel, all of the records. It explains what, how, where, when and – the trickiest one – it examines why. It’s done with intelligence and flair.
While Tingen is an admirer of the great artist and his music, it is a balanced, no-nonsense account… There are great anecdotes from the musicians about the various recording sessions, the way they felt when they met Miles, the things they learned and events that took place on the road. It’s enlightening and even fun to know the stories. There are also first-hand observations of Miles and his life that are revealing – at times warm, at times troubling… This book is a must for fans of Miles, fusion and music in general. It is involved and detached, eye-opening and unapologetic.”
– R. J. DELUKE, allaboutjazz.com. The entire on-line review is available here…
“Paul Tingen has written a gem of a book. It contains the most extensive and exhaustive chronicle to date of Miles’s final decades. If you have any interested at all in what Miles’s electric years were about, this is the book to read.”
– BOBBY JACKSON, music director and producer at WCPN, Cleveland Public Radio.
“An exhaustive, judicious and immensely helpful new study of Davis’ electric work. Neither conventional biography nor criticism, the book includes new information about Davis’ personal life as well as a critically perceptive analysis, in chronological order, of every recording the trumpeter made with electric instruments, between 1967 and his death in 1991…. This fascinating, 400-page tome is not only readable, but a must-have for any serious student of Davis…. With Miles Beyond, Tingen offers an unusually selfless pointer that steers your attention directly to the radiant heart of the music it so passionately describes.”
– PAUL DE BARROS, NPR.
“This book is an absorbing read for any fan of Miles, and an essential road map for those who are interested in his electric years – and ought to intrigue anybody who is simply interested in the 20th Century’s musical legacy.”
– ALEX WEBB, BBC. The entire on-line review is available here… A related BBC interview with Paul Tingen can be read here…
“Tingen’s research is exhaustive. He interviews more than 50 of Miles’ sidemen, producers, friends, and lovers from the period to convincingly make the case that Davis’ recordings from this era are serious music. Not only did Miles discover and nurture a generation of musicians now at the forefront of jazz, Tingen argues, he took jazz improvisation to even more challenging, if sublime, levels. Above all, Tingen paints a sensitive portrait of a musician struggling with age and ill-health and the demands of art and fame and desperate to return jazz to the center of African American youth culture. A must-read for all true jazz fans.”
– TED LEVENTHAL, review in Booklist.
“Tingen is an indispensable guide, both for his determination to sort the cool from the crap and his thoughtfulness in trying to understand a creative initiative which, with Bitches Brew in 1969, discovered an almost entirely new kind of music. Discovery is the key concept here, and Tingen offers many worthwhile insights into the nature of Miles’ compulsion to explore ahead of whatever was happening at the time. References to Zen and Ken Wilber’s ‘holon’ theory prove illuminating, as does Tingen’s suggestion that Miles’ move into fusion represented, as much as anything, a return to his blues roots.”
– IAN MACDONALD, review in Uncut.
“Tingen convincingly shows that Davis was entirely serious about developing this [electric] style. An invaluable work on an oft-neglected aspect of Davis’s career.”
– “WILLIAM KENZ, review in Library Journal.
“Tingen meticulously dissects Miles’s bands, sidemen and musical techniques, offering a wealth of candid firsthand commentary on Miles and his music from former sidemen. A lucid, detailed, and illuminating study of a generally misunderstood, often critically dismissed period in the creative life of one of the country’s greatest musical innovators.”
– review in Publishers Weekly.
“One of the most interesting and valuable jazz books of recent times, a benchmark of research and musical insight that has you returning to the music again and again–which is, after all, what a good jazz book should do.”
– STUART NICHOLSON, author of Jazz-rock: A History in a review in Jazzwise.
“Miles Beyond is a fabulous read, ever entertaining in its delivery of anecdotes and deeply stimulating with its thorough examination of Davis and the music. It is essential reading and an indispensable reference for any fan of Miles Davis (especially those that do not appreciate his electric music – go on, you might learn something!). The wealth of information about the recordings, production and Davis’ sidemen also makes it widely applicable for any fan of theirs, and anyone generally interested in music from about that time.”
– JULIAN F. DERRY, webmaster of the John McLaughlin Archives. The entire on-line review is available here…
“Het voor de liefhebbers onmisbare boek getuigt van gedegen research en een afgedwongen kritisch beoordelingsvermogen.” (“This for music lovers essential book displays thorough research and a sharp critical faculty.”)
– FRANK VAN HERK, review in De Volkskrant.
“A meticulously thorough look at the musical and personal life of Miles from 1967. The book pulls no punches. It deals with all of Miles’ shortcomings as well as his greatness. His failed relationships with women, his battle with drugs, his temper and violent behavior, and the speculation on the cause of his death are all elements covered in the book. Tingen also evaluates each performance from a reviewers standpoint, detailing the good and bad on each record. The most interesting parts for me were the documented commentaries by musicians and associates of Miles.”
– FRANK RUBOLINO, review in Cadence magazine.
“Writer Paul Tingen has written a thoughtful and even-handed history of Miles’ most misunderstood music. The interviews alone make this worth reading for any Miles scholar. Miles Beyond is required reading for anyone devoted to Miles’ electric period and should be at least skimmed by those critical of same. Everyone might just learn something.”
– MICHAEL TOLAND, in High Bias e-zine. The entire on-line review is available here…
“The remarkably comprehensive Miles Beyond is an illuminating survey of the great musician’s later experimental forays. Tingen analyzes Davis’s recording process through revealing interviews with many of his musical colleagues, who recount the seemingly haphazard methods the trumpeter used to draw out the best performances from his musicians. Written with a fan’s enthusiasm and a scholar’s erudition, Miles Beyond is a refreshing re-examination of the later output of one of the great jazz innovators.
– Buy.com book description. The entire on-line review is available here…
“Engaging and well-researched, Miles Beyond is uniquely relevant to the integral art movement as it features extensive application of Ken Wilber’s ideas to Miles’s artistic expression and development. While throwing a clearer light on Miles’s enigmatic genius, who Tingen says “operated from a consciousness paradigm ahead of ours,” Miles Beyond offers us a valuable opportunity to explore our own existence, both personally and artistically. All told, Miles Beyond is a must-read for integral artists.”
– MARK RIVA, DJ, associate of Ken Wilber’s Integral Institute of Art, and originator of the Internet music magazine Auricle
MUSICIANS’ COMMENTS
“Accurate and moving. The best thing I’ve read about Miles’s later years.”
– ADAM HOLZMAN, keyboardist, composer, and producer.
“Bravissimo! Tingen has done a marvellous job: deep thorough research, combined with passion and intelligence, written in a most enjoyable and readable style. Miles Beyond is a worthy tribute to one of the greatest maestros who ever lived.”
– PAUL BUCKMASTER, composer, arranger, and cellist.
“Miles Beyond is a great book and a really inspiring read. I’m glad to see documentation showing that a lot of important jazz happened after the 1950s and 1960s. Miles never stopped and always remained ahead.”
– BILL FRISELL, guitarist and composer.
“Finally an exploration of what I believe to be the most exciting revolution in the history of jazz. Miles Beyond is an intricate, engrossing, and highly enjoyable account that completes the history of one of the 20th Century’s greatest artists.”
– MARK ISHAM, trumpeter and composer.
“Between 1973 and 1975 Miles Davis created some of the most amazing music of the 20th century. Moving beyond jazz, rock, or funk, Miles masterminded a new musical approach that paved the way for the most radical ambient and trip-hop sounds of today. Miles Beyond is the first intelligent and comprehensive assessment of this wonderful music that has been neglected by critics and writers for twenty-five years, even as it was adored by fans the world over.”
– HENRY KAISER, Grammy-nominated guitarist and producer, co-leader of the Yo Miles! project.
“While reading, I felt so close to the man, that tears came to my eyes: ‘My God, what a full life, in all its aspects.’ I think Paul Tingen has written a fantastic book, and I’m very pleased by his sensitive and true version of Aura and the Copenhagen sessions.”
– PALLE MIKKELBORG, trumpeter and composer.
“I want to congratulate you on your book. I had no idea it was going to be that deep. Very intense. It really brought back memories. The stories about Tutu, Amandla, and Siesta are finally accurately told. I was very impressed with the way you presented Jo Gelbard. I think she is the unsung hero of the book. I remember Miles’ house in Malibu and now miss him more than ever. I hope the book is a huge success. It deserves it.”
– JASON MILES, keyboardist and composer.
OTHER COMMENTS
“Paul Tingen’s engaging and well-researched book at last puts the spotlight on Miles Davis’ scandalously neglected post-1970 music, and takes us inside that small group of musicians who changed jazz and pop music forever. Miles Beyond is a real contribution and a pleasure to read.”
– JOHN SZWED, professor of anthropology, African and African-American studies, music, and American studies at Yale University. Author of Jazz 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Jazz and Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times New Roman of Sun Ra
“At last, an ‘Electric Miles’ Companion! Paul Tingen has done an extraordinary job in filling in the blanks and shedding new light on Miles’ working methods during the volatile ’70s while providing a detailed, track-by-track analysis of controversial recordings like Agharta, Pangaea, Live-Evil and On The Corner. As part of a generation of players/listeners who grew up with this ‘dangerous’ music while wholly embracing the power and glory of amplified guitar, fuzz boxes and wah-wah pedals, I was gratified to read an assessment of Miles’s most provocative and misunderstood phase by someone who really ‘GETS IT.’”
– BILL MILKOWSKI, contributor to Jazz Times; author of Jaco: The Extraordinary And Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius and Swing It! An Annotated History of Jive.
“An extraordinary book, brilliant in its conception and delivery, about one of the great musical geniuses of our times. Highly recommended.”
– KEN WILBER author of A Brief History of Everything; Sex, Ecology, Spirituality; and One Taste.
“Astonishing… I have no adequate words for this… It’s all so real……like I’m back in the room with him… It’s more like him than the autobiography… and written from such a spiritually elevated perspective… without judgement… and with such compassion… It’s what it was.”
– JO GELBARD, companion and artistic collaborator of Miles Davis, 1986-1991.
“This groundbreaking book is a classic. It covers an amazing amount of ground—musical, personal, philosphical, spiritual—and sets new standards by which all future musical biographies will be measured.”
– GARY GOLDSCHNEIDER, pianist, composer, and author of the best-selling The Secret Language of Birthdays.
“At last someone has taken the time to thoroughly investigate the most overlooked and misunderstood part of Miles Davis’ incredible career: his electric music. Paul Tingen does an outstanding job of explaining why this music was so special and why more people should give it a listen. Miles Beyond is a fascinating look at one of music’s most complex and unusual figures.”
– BLAIR JACKSON, executive editor of Mix; author of Garcia: An American Life.