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Miles Davis: The Complete Birth Of The Cool
by AAJ Staff
Since the late 1940s, the term “cool jazz" has been used to describe post-swing jazz that is played with subtlety and restraint rather than aggression. One could argue that “cool jazz" started when Lester Young presented a soft, relaxed alternative to Coleman Hawkins-and to be sure, the seminal Prez was the blueprint for Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Paul Quinichette and many others in the “Cool School." If Prez had played “cool swing," one of the most important moments in the ...
Continue ReadingMiles Davis: Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall
by C. Michael Bailey
Pilgrimage Back to Miles. Miles Davis is the single most important figure in jazz music history. There. I said it. I have read a truck load of music criticism addressing a collection of the most influential jazz musicians, but no critic has ever gone out on a limb to name the single most important figure. So, I gladly throw down the gauntlet. I am not trying to discount other musician?s contributions. I am only trying to reveal the true significance ...
Continue ReadingMiles Davis: Birth Of The Cool
by Jim Santella
As Miles Davis has indicated in his autobiography, he was breaking away from Bird and bebop, and finding his own voice, when he formed the nonet. Davis was attempting to take the sound of an orchestra (such as Duke Ellington's or Claude Thornhill's) and produce the same sound with only nine instruments: trumpet, alto sax, baritone sax, French horn, trombone, tuba, piano, bass, and drums. Gil Evans' basement apartment on 55th Street in New York City was a gathering place ...
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