Blue Like Jazz

I was in Barnes and Noble recently because I was in need of a good book and stumbled upon a title that caught my eye: Blue Like Jazz. I thought that was an awesome title, it captured the feeling of jazz music, that feeling you get when you hear someone close their eyes, contort their face and travel into that wonderful world of notes and sounds that transcend what their mouths and fingers are actually doing. Good jazz musicians, perhaps even more than others, feel the music, you can see it on their face if you watch them play live, and you can hear it in their music.  Like the blues, jazz is a style that is so feeling based, hell, it doesn't even fit into the rules of music theory, it's sort of a mystery, and i think it's very telling that both the blues and jazz were created by black slaves.  They created something lasting and beautiful in the midst of one of the biggest injustices humanity has ever seen.  (such a shame that today's generation of young black people are more into songs about getting drunk in the club that have no instruments in them at all). Seriously, I wonder what B.B. King and Buddy Guy think when they turn on the radio and hear Lil Wayne rap about his money and his bitches. Miles Davis and John Coltrane must be up in heaven jamming on their saxes and thinking of ways to bring jazz back. But anyways, I finished Miller's book Blue Like Jazz and am reading another of his called Through Painted Deserts currently, but Blue Like Jazz is full of witty, funny, and uncommonly honest writing.  It is a memoir, written in a really unstructured way that makes it even more interesting to read.  The book deals with many large ideas: God, spirituality, the flaws and deterrents of organized religion, life, love, and relationships, all without ever becoming even remotely bombastic, or annoyingly profound.  He writes very earnestly and doesn't come off as some pretentious theologian spurning all humanity for their endless array of sinful characteristics.  He is very human, and does not try to transcend said human condition with high-sounding syntax and a persistence on his own godliness.  Rather, he acknowledges the frustrations of his own humanity and the mystery of God and the universe.  He talks about his flaws with a sense of humor and reveals his doubts, fears, and insecurities in an endearing way that is easy to connect with and relate to.  I highly suggest Blue Like Jazz for anyone interested in a thought-provoking, funny, and entertaining read.