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“If I am able to make a bridge between my words and people going back to the music,” explains the writer Ashley Kahn, “I’ve been successful. That’s all I ask for.”
Featured in the Summer 2026 issue of Brilliant Corners, this interview with Kahn focuses on his landmark jazz-related books: Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece, A Love Supreme: The Story of Coltrane’s Signature Album, and The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. The discussion also addresses his liner notes, for which he recently received a second Grammy Award.
The recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Jazz Journalists Association, Kahn has long been a distinguished voice in jazz and blues scholarship. He also co-wrote Carlos Santana’s autobiography, The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light, and is currently working on a book about Paul Simon’s Graceland. He teaches at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music.
In addition to the Kahn interview, the Summer 2026 issue of Brilliant Corners features poems by Linda Susan Jackson, Arden Levine, Geoffrey Polk, Al Basile, Richard Lyons, Jarold Ramsey, Betsy Sholl, and Richard Terrill; two short stories by Matty Bannond; and significant, unpublished material on Louis Armstrong by Ricky Riccardi (another twice-awarded Grammy winner for best album notes). The cover art, Summer’s Gift, is by painter/jazz pianist Jenny Wilson.
Brilliant Corners is a biannual journal that highlights an exceptional collection of literature and art pertaining to jazz. Founded in 1996, the journal bears strong ties to Lycoming College, with Sascha Feinstein, Ph.D., Robert L. and Charlene Shangraw Professor of English at Lycoming College, who serves as the managing editor, and Gary R. Hafer, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of English at Lycoming College, who serves as the production design editor. The publication is funded in part by the College and private endowments.
A subscription costs $12 per year ($18 for international orders), and checks or money can be sent to Brilliant Corners, Lycoming College, 1 College Place, Williamsport, PA 17701. More information can be found at www.lycoming.edu/BrilliantCorners or on Brilliant Corners’ Facebook page.