Johnson on trombone, Sandy Siegelstein on French horn, Nelson Boyd on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums, and John Lewis returning to piano.
The band returned to the studio with five substitutions in personnel: J. The second recording date came three months later on Apwith Davis filling in for Fats Navarro in Tadd Dameron's band with Charlie Parker during the interim. That date Kai Winding replaced Zwerin on trombone, Al Haig replaced Lewis on piano, and Joe Shulman replaced McKibbon on bass. Jazz critic Richard Cook hypothesizes that Capitol, wanting to get a good start, recorded these numbers first because they were the most catchy tunes in the nonet's small repertoire. The first session occurred on January 21, 1949, recording four tracks: Mulligan's "Jeru" and "Godchild" as well as Lewis's "Move" and "Budo". Davis, Lee Konitz, Gerry Mulligan and John Barber were the only musicians who played on all three sessions, though the instrumental lineup was constant (excepting the omission of piano on a few songs and the addition of Kenny Hagood on "Darn That Dream"). The nonet recorded twelve tracks for Capitol during three sessions over the course of nearly a year and a half. Pete Rugolo produced the sessions for Birth of the Cool.
they adopted a more lyrical approach to improvisation. They brought down the tempos of their music.
They explored new instrumental textures, preferring to blend the voices of the horns like a choir rather than pit them against each other as the big bands had traditionally done with their thrusting and parrying sections. In their work together, they relied on a rich palette of harmonies, many of them drawn from European impressionist composers. were developing a range of tools that would change the sound of contemporary music. The participants engaged in discussions about the future of jazz, including a proposed group with a new sound. Keeping an open door policy, Evans' apartment came to host many of the young jazz artists of late-1940s New York. Evans had gained a reputation in the jazz world for his orchestration of bebop tunes for the Claude Thornhill orchestra in the mid-1940s. Īt the same time, arranger Gil Evans began hosting gatherings of like-minded, forward-looking musicians at his small basement apartment, located on 55th Street in Manhattan, three blocks away from the jazz nightclubs of 52nd Street. In 1948, Davis, becoming increasingly concerned about growing tensions within the Parker quintet, left the group and began looking for a new band to work with.
By 1948, Davis had three years of bebop playing under his belt, but he struggled to match the speed and ranges of the likes of Gillespie and Parker, choosing instead to play in the mid range of his instrument. Davis' first records released under his own name were recorded with Parker's band, in 1947, and were more arranged and rehearsed than Parker's usual approach to recording. Davis recorded several albums worth of material with Parker during this period, including Parker's Sessions for the Savoy and Dial labels. Most of them were originally released in the 10-inch 78-rpm format and are all approximately three minutes long.ĭavis (right center) playing in Charlie Parker's quintet, 1947.įrom 1944 to 1948, Miles Davis played in Charlie Parker's quintet. As the title suggests, these recordings are considered seminal in the history of cool jazz. įeaturing unusual instrumentation and several notable musicians, the music consisted of innovative arrangements influenced by classical music techniques such as polyphony, and marked a major development in post- bebop jazz. It compiles eleven tracks recorded by Davis's nonet for the label over the course of three sessions during 19. January 21 and ApMain New York Cityīirth of the Cool is a compilation album by American jazz trumpeter and bandleader Miles Davis, released in February 1957 by Capitol Records.