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Sooner or later I would write a book review of “Blue Like Jazz”. The book has been bumping around in my house for a few years — being read by several of my daughters. “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller, and published by Thomas Nelson in 2003, is written in the style of “new realism essays”. The subtitle is “Nonreligious thoughts on Christian Spirituality”. It’s a collection of stories and essays about Donald Miller’s experiences and ideas about God.

Many parts of the book have a conversational tone, like Don is talking to you in a Portland coffee shop, or by the campfire. For example,  the author’s note (like a preface before chapter one) says:

I never liked Jazz music because Jazz music doesn’t resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theatre in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxaphone. I stood there for fifteen minutes (watching him), and he never opened his eyes.

After that I liked Jazz music.

Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It as if they are showing you the way.

I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened…

Thomas Nelson is clearly targeting this book at a post-modern culture. Some of my friends that are agnostics, skeptics, or use-to-be-Catholic might enjoy reading this book.

This book grapples with the paradoxes of life, but you might not want to go there…

You might love God and hate this book. On the other hand, you might hate God, and love this book.

If you are looking for a book on systematic theology, careful Biblical commentary, or church history — this book is NOT what you are looking for.

ISBN 0-7852-6370-5

Update: See part 2 of the Blue Like Jazz review.

Tags: conversation, jazz, music, paradox, saxaphone, spirituality