Birth Of The Cool (Rudy Van Gelder Edition)

The auspicious title really does say it all for this collection of trumpeter Miles Davis' 1949 nonet dates. In these dozen performances a whole new school of jazz was created, as former beboppers Davis and drummer Max Roach joined forces with progressive composers, arrangers and players such as Gil Evans, Gerry Mulligan and John Lewis to explore the subtler and moodier side of the genre from a vituoso's standpoint. Mellow as the results are for the most part, there's a world of complexity and detail to be found here which no self-respecting jazzhead (nor anyone else who really cares about music) can afford to miss.
As would often be the case throughout his long and varied career, Davis is featured on these sessions primarily as a player and crafter of atmosphere. Despite having brought the sizeable combo (which also featured such famed blowers as Lee Konitz on alto saxophone and Kai Winding on trombone) together and serving as its nominal head, the Maestro takes only one half-credit as a composer on these dates, with the bulk of the charts coming from Mulligan, Lewis and of course Evans, whose big band orchestrations had provided Miles with his initial inspiration. These other gentlemen would also incorporate the innovations realized on the BIRTH OF THE COOL sessions far more extensively into their respective subsequest careers than would the trumpeter himself, thus marking this classic set of recordings as not only a once-in-a-lifetime supergroup summit, but a truly pivotal moment in jazz history.

The Whole cd Is Great,But Boplicity Is By Far The best thing on the disc-the most innovative,swinging,cool,hip mid tempo blocked harmony track of it's era.Years ahead of it's time,i couldn't beleive it dates back to 1949.What a landmark- still hip as hell 56 years on,and written only 8 or so years after the much squarer(But still great in it's way)In The Mood.

Kind of Blue is an infinitely more appealing album for fans of jazz small-groups and improvisation. That's why I'd suggest that if you have to spend your money on ONE Miles album, you go buy "Kind of Blue".

But once you understand "Kind of Blue", and get the concept that Miles was aiming for with that album, go explore what he was doing before he got there. And start here.

This album is the sound of jazz that I fell in love with at age 14, after listening to the likes of Tommy Dorsey and Frank Sinatra for years and years. I didn't even know "Kind of Blue" existed at that time, but I loved the soft sounds this album was throwing on my young ears.

What I didn't realize at the time was how harmonically complex and staggeringly innovative this album is/was. Miles plays with a nonet, uses a tuba for a few baselines, strips jazz of its aggressiveness, and STILL manages to make an album that Swings with genuine purpose.

This is a soft album that is not a soft album. This is a soft album that is accessible, sure. But it has got something underneat its softness: soul.

I was ordering some other stuff on Amazon, T.V. on in the background. I heard Lisa Simpson say something about Miles Davis, Birth of the Cool and ordered the CD to get the order over $25 for free shipping or some other impulsive reason. My third-grade students really enjoyed listening to this CD while they worked on their assignments. Very accessible jazz and should be in every collection.

Miles Davis is awesome - Birth of the Cool deserves 50 stars.