Running the Voodoo Down: The Electric Music of Miles Davis: Backbeat

This book reassesses Miles Davis' "electric period" and analyzes its continuing influence on contemporary music. While jazz purists often revile this phase - which encompasses the entire second half of his career, from 1967 until his death in 1991 - this book takes a new, appreciative look at this music and shows its importance to Davis' career and to jazz as a whole. The author also reveals surprising connections between Davis, Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone, particularly the ways they fed each other's creativity. This book will stir up the longtime debate about this important music and give Davis' legions of fans refreshing insights into his work.

Philip Freeman is the Fletcher Jones Chair of Western Cultureat Pepperdine University and was formerly professor of classics at Luther College and Washington University. He earned the first joint PhD in classics and Celtic studies from Harvard University, and has been a visiting scholar at the Harvard Divinity School, the American Academy in Rome, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC. He is the author of several books includingAlexander the Great, St. Patrick of Ireland,Julius Caesar,andOh My Gods. Visit him atPhilipFreemanBooks.com.