Ashley Kahn (b. 1960) is an American music historian, journalist, and producer. He was born in theBronx, New York, and was raised inCincinnati. Kahn graduated fromColumbia University in 1983. While attending Columbia, he hosted a jazz and blues radio show onWKCR, and was known on the air as "The Cincinnati Kid."[1]
In 2014, Kahn co-authored the autobiography of Carlos Santana, titledThe Universal Tone: Bringing My Story To Light.
In 2015, Kahn was awarded a Grammy for his album notes to the John Coltrane releaseOffering: Live at Temple University.[2][3]
In 2026, Kahn won a Grammy for his album notes forMiles ’55: The Prestige Recordings by Miles Davis.[4]
To date, his most critically acclaimed books have been on two major jazz albums,Kind of Blue[5] byMiles Davis andA Love Supreme byJohn Coltrane. He pens articles, interviews and other features on music, and is a prolific liner note writer for a variety of music labels, for which he has earned three ASCAP/Deems Taylor awards,[6][7][8] and three Grammy nominations.[9][10]
The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide withJohn Swenson, 1999 for the first edition, Random House,ISBN0-679-76873-4
Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece, foreword byJimmy Cobb, 2001, Da Capo Press, USA,ISBN0-306-81067-0
A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album, foreword byElvin Jones, 2002 for the first edition, Viking Penguin, USA,ISBN0-670-03136-4
The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. (2006) W. W. Norton,ISBN0-393-05879-4
The Color of Jazz: Album Cover Photographs by Pete Turner. (2006) Rizzoli International,ISBN0-8478-5798-0
The Blue Note Years: The Photographs of Francis Wolff & Jimmy Katz. (2009) Jazzprezzo,ISBN3-9810250-8-3
The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story To Light — Carlos Santana's autobiography (2014) Little, Brown,ISBN0316244929
