Birth of the Cool |
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Released: February 1957 Recorded: January 21 and April 22, 1949; March 9, 1950 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): 0.28 US, 0.06 UK, 0.34 world (includes US and UK) Genre: cool jazz |
Tracks:
* bonus track added to 1989 CD reissue Total Running Time: 35:29 The Players:
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Rating: 4.646 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings)
Quotable:“Where the sound known as cool jazz essentially formed” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music GuideAwards:(Click on award to learn more).
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About the Album:An argument can be made that Miles Davis is the most influential artist in the history of jazz music. He was at the forefront of every major movement in the genre from the mid-‘40s until his death in 1991. The renowned musician was born in 1926 and raised in an upper middle class home in East St. Louis. He took up trumpet at age 9 and by 16 was playing gigs. After high school, he got to play with other jazz greats like trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist Charlie Parker. He was part of bands assembled by Benny Carter, Billy Eckstein, and Parker before moving from sideman to frontman in 1948. After landing a contract with Capitol Records, he went into the studio in January 1949 to record the first of three sessions which would become The Birth of the Cool. The title refers to the idea that it was out of these sessions that “the sound known as cool jazz essentially formed.” AMG It is one of the “defining, pivotal moments in jazz.” AMG The music has “a hip, detached elegance, never getting too hot, even as the rhythms skip and jump.” AMG Cool jazz marked the point “where the elasticity of bop was married with skillful, big-band arrangements and a relaxed, subdued mood that made it all seem easy, even at its most intricate.” AMG Cool jazz dated back as far as the mid-‘30s with tenor saxophonist Lester Young and pianist Leonard Joseph Tristano. However, it was Davis who “took the form ahead a generation, inspiring an entire school of jazz artists to move the music forward.” CS That first session, in New York on January 21, 1949, produced Jeru, Move, Godchild, and Budo. ON April 22 of that same year, Davis & Co. produced Venus De Milo, Rouge, Boplicity, and Israel. The third session birthed Deception, Rocker, Moon Dreams, and Darn That Dream. Jazz legend and big band innovator Gil Evans collaborated with Davis on the project, helping him to assemble the musicians and serving as arranger on some of the material. CS The sessions also highlighted what became a lifelong talent “as a collector of similarly brilliant musicians who would bring about radical changes in musical direction.” CS The assembled musicians for The Birth of the Cool keep “things short and concise (probably the result of the running time of singles, but the results are the same), which keeps the focus on the tones and tunes. The virtuosity led to relaxing, stylish mood music as the end result – the very thing that came to define West Coast or ‘cool’ jazz – but this music is so inventive, it remains alluring even after its influence has been thoroughly absorbed into the mainstream.” AMG The four tracks from the first session were released as singles, as were “Israel” and “Boplicity.” In 1953, Capitol released eight of the tracks on a 10” LP called Classics in Jazz – Miles Davis. WK In 1957, eleven songs from the three sessions were released as The Birth of the Cool. In 1989, a CD reissue added “Darn That Dream,” the only remaining song from the sessions. |
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First posted 3/28/2008; last updated 3/17/2024. |
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