The sound of isolation/THE GUARDIAN

Richard Williams touches upon the profound influence of Miles Davis’s masterpiece, Kind of Blue, on music. “It was as if Davis had tapped into something more profound than a taste for a particular set of musical sounds: he had uncovered a desire to change the scenery of life.” Miles Davis’s masterpiece was in 2008 certified quadruple platinum for sales by the Recording Industry Association of America. Williams tells us what Davis and six other musicians achieved “during the course of a mere nine hours spread over two days in the spring of 1959” as they recorded for Kind of Blue.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man/THE NEW YORKER

Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr caught the headlines and even the President’s attention when he was arrested on suspicion of breaking into his own house and locked up for “tumultuous behaviour”. Could he be accused of playing the race card—”a phrase that itself infuriates many blacks.” In this article written in 1995, Gates explores America’s reaction to the verdict in the OJ Simpson case: “black indignation at white anger at black jubilation at Simpson’s acquittal”. And while looking into narrative and counter-narrative, sexual racial politics, gender dynamics and patriarchy, he, perhaps most tellingly, reveals his fear of the police—”Wynton Marsalis says, ‘My worst fear is to have to go before the criminal-justice system.’ Absurdly enough, it’s mine, too.”

Love at the Greeting Card Company: Best Wishes on Your Breakup/THE NEW YORK TIMES

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