It's About That Time: Miles Davis On and Off Record. By Richard Cook. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-19-532266-5 (hardcover). 384 pp. $27.00.

In the century-old form of music known as jazz, no one musician has been more enigmatic than miles Dewey Davis (1926–91). The key to his misterioso aura is certainly not his creativity and invention alone. Many musicians of any musical genre have those qualities. He was certainly not jazz's greatest composer. That honor belongs to edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington. If one considers modern technique and velocity on the trumpet, John Birkes "Dizzy" Gillespie could play circles around Miles Davis. His music never captured the intense spirituality of John Coltrane nor did he attempt to. The public persona of Davis contributed mightily to his mystique, for in a field of endeavor known for eccentric personalities, Davis had one of the darkest.