Birth Of The Cool [Remaster]

Performer: Miles Davis
Artist: Kai Winding; Lee Konitz; Gerry Mulligan; Max Roach; J.J. Johnson; John Lewis; Kenny Clarke; Gunther Schuller
Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet); Kenny Hagood (vocals); Lee Konitz (alto saxophone); Gerry Mulligan (baritone saxophone); Junior Collins, Sandy Siegelstein, Gunther Schuller (French horn); J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding (trombone); John Barber (tuba); John Lewis, Al Haig (piano); Al McKibbon, Joe Shulman, Nelson Boyd (bass); Kenny Clarke, Max Roach (drums). Producer: Walter Rivers, Pete Rugulo. Reissue producer: Michael Cuscuna. Recorded in New York, New York on January 21 & April 22, 1949 and on March 9, 1950. Originally released on Capitol (762). Includes liner notes by Pete Welding & Gerry Mulligan. Digitally remastered by Rudy Van Gelder. This is part of Blue Note's Rudy Van Gelder Editions series. Personnel: Miles Davis; Gerry Mulligan, Gunther Schuller, J.J. Johnson , Kai Winding, Kenny Clarke, Al Haig, Al McKibbon, Lee Konitz, Max Roach, Nelson Boyd, Junior Collins, John Barber, Joe Shulman. So dubbed because these three sessions -- two from early 1949, one from March 1950 -- are where the sound known as cool jazz essentially formed, The Birth of the Cool remains one of the defining, pivotal moments in jazz. This is 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. After all, there's a reason why this music was called cool; it has a hip, detached elegance, never getting too hot, even as the rhythms skip and jump. Indeed, the most remarkable thing about these sessions -- arranged by Gil Evans and featuring such heavy-hitters as Kai Winding, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, and Max Roach -- is that they sound intimate, as the nonet never pushes too hard, never sounds like the work of nine musicians. Furthermore, the group keeps 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 ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine As Miles Davis came to transcend the influence of Dizzy Gillespie and recognize his own musical voice, he arrived at a terse lyric conception of the trumpet, grounded in Charlie Parker's swinging syncopations. And it was in the course of searching for an appropriate musical corollary that he forged an enduring musical partnership with arranger Gil Evans and a core group of like-minded musicians that yielded three remarkable sessions which have come down to us as BIRTH OF THE COOL. For Davis and Evans, the challenge was to create a supple new vocabulary out of the angularity of bebop, and greater emphasis on texture and form. By reining in the rhythm, Davis and Evans sought to create a more seamless fabric of written and improvised passages. And by employing tuba, French horn, trombone and trumpet, along with alto and baritone saxophones the Davis Nonet achieved a diaphanous, mellow orchestral texture. However, the notion of cool as emotional detachment or lack of improvisational heat is somewhat overstated by the title. John Lewis's chart for the opening "Move" is taken at a brisk gallop over a driving Max Roach pulse, animated by deep brass counterpoint. Miles Davis treats his own blues, "Deception," in an almost choral manner, his lovely melodic line snaking through a web of voices. Gerry Mulligan's "Rocker" benefits from the rich contrary motion of his writing, and the big band accents which launch Miles' solo. On "Boplicity," Gil Evans' harmonizes his coy swinging melody with warm, broken voicings, while his spatial, atmospheric chart for the ballad "Moon Dreams" is distinguished by the idiomatic serenity of his voice leading. A masterpiece.

Q (4/01, p.117) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Each track is short, subtle and self-contained, the most notable being 'Moon Dreams', a lush, mellow take on orchestrated bop..."

Few musicians have managed to change the course of music--trumpeter Miles Davis did it several times. An early disciple of Charlie Parker, Davis created an austere, understated approach that became the model for cool. His superb albums in the 1950s made him a star, and in the following decade, he brought small-group jazz to the limit before he unapologetically (and, for some, unforgivably) took on jazz-rock. After a break, he re-emerged in the '80s with a mixture of pop and dense, bristling funk. All the while, his refusal to follow anyone but his own muse made him both a hero and an enigma--either way, he was one of the most magnetic, influential figures in American music.

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