Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.46 You Save: $5.44 (61%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.50 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Birth of the Cool
Free Music Review: it doesn't get any better than this
Hit: 5 Stars
About two years ago, Capitol Jazz released The Complete Birth of the Cool. At that time, it was the definitive version of an album that has been hailed as one of the true greats in the jazz pantheon. The sound quality was better than any previous release, and the booklet was chock full of informative essays, photos, etc. What no one knew at the time was that the original master tapes had been sitting in the vault, untouched. When Rudy Van Gelder went to prepare a new edition of the album for Japanese release, he discovered the original session reels. As you can imagine, the difference in sound quality is astonishing. As producer Michael Cuscuna explains, "This was the first time that Rudy had worked on these particular recordings, and he was surprised to find that every version subsequent to the original LP had used the 1957 12-inch master. But the original master tapes of each performance still existed, and they revealed significant improvements in sound."
Blue Note's Tom Evered added, "To set the record straight, we would not have issued the Birth of the Cool RVG if Rudy had not found the session tapes. We were not eager to issue a third edition of the BOTC but we felt we had to given the improved sound." Anyone familiar with the album prior to this new release will notice the difference in sound immediately. It's much more vivid and full, allowing you to fully appreciate the complexity of the nonet's arrangements. It's like you're hearing the music for the first time.
This brings us to the all-important question: which one do you buy? The answer is simple--both. The booklets in both are excellent (with different material in each). The sound quality on The Complete Birth of the Cool isn't as good (although it's definitely not bad), but it contains all of the available live tracks from the group's performances at The Royal Roost. The RVG version doesn't have the live tracks, but it has better sound. The choice is yours. Whichever you decide, The Complete Birth of the Cool is an essential part of any jazz collection.
Free Music Review: A lot of things grew out of this recording . . .
Hit: 5 Stars
Late in the 1940s a group of jazz musicians -- Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis, Kai Winding, Lee Konitz, just to drop a few names -- took to hanging out between gigs at a certain lower Manhattan coldwater flat. That the renter of this flat happened to be arranger/composer/theoretician Gil Lewis gives, for jazz afficionados everywhere, whole new meaning to the term 'fortuosity.'Evans was the spark; Davis (even then ever-restless, ever-questing) was the lightning rod. "Birth Of The Cool," ultimately, is the result. (I use the term "ultimately" because the initial releases -- as with the "Davis Nontet's" live appearances -- debuted to less-than-lukewarm critical reviews. All of which, for me, defines the value of jazz criticism as a whole.)
The collaborations of those coldwater flat sessions -- and this album -- were instrumental in the resulting careers of their participants. Mulligan, particularly, would in this album give the lie to latter-day critics who tend to downplay his contributions as a composer/theoretician. His comps/arrangements (listen closely to both "Jeru" and "Venus de Milo), while obviously influenced by Evans' tutelage, demonstrate a deep study of -- and abiding respect for -- the musical idiom in which he chose to work. The close-ensemble arrangements each of the album's various compositions, amplified by the sheer musicianship of all personnel involved, furthermore, herald the movement of today's "back-off-of-bebop" movement.
This is an album which cannot be fully appreciated -- nowhere near so -- at first-listen; what happens upon further listenings, however, is likely to be sheer magic. Even the (at-first) seeming incongruity of Kenny Harwood's vocal in "Darn That Dream," upon subsequent listenings, shows a sure hand in its instrumentation.
An album for any serious jazz student's (or musician's) collection.
Free Music Review: Birth Of Something Great.
Hit: 5 Stars
An early collection of studio recordings from 1950 and 1949, The appropriately titled "Birth Of Cool" is
one of Jazz's first classic long player records. Recorded for Capitol Records, Miles Davis leads a group of
virtuosic instrumentalists through a incredible set of free form jazz compositions. As the title suggests, this record
marked the birth of a new kind of jazz. The eleven songs presented here use more of a "big band" arrangement than most
other types of jazz, and they are generally short; most clock in at around three minutes. So unlike most free form jazz
which tends to meander all over the place, most of the solos and breaks here stay in place and, therefore, add a sense of
cohesiveness to the record. Yet regardless of how short and cohesive the songs are, this is certainly not pop music, as
most of the songs don't follow conventional pop song structure.
This genre of jazz is known as West Coast Jazz or simply "cool". And it's easy to see why it's called cool because
regardless of how chaotic or intense the music gets, there is a sense of restraint and mood. The music is never too hot,
so one can cool off to it if you get my point. This was indeed the birth of a new era of jazz and jazz has never sounded
quite the same since.
This is a great introduction to Miles Davis' body of work not to mention an essential listen for serious jazz fans. Those
who are more used to his more experiemental work like "Kind Of Blue" and "Bitches Brew" might have a harder time getting
into this record, but the effort is worth it.
Free Music Review: Cool Breeze
Hit: 5 Stars
This is simply beautiful music;
fresh from the be-bop academy of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis has finally proven himself as an carismatic leader...
Having spent some time at Julliard and (according to his own autobiography), having studied some classics of the classical western music, Miles also drew from some earlier interesting models of jazz arranging - Claude Thornhill is mentioned most of the time, but young Gerry Mulligan has heralded this style even in some arrangements for Gene Krupa's big band (not to mention some of the "advanced" tracks by Henderson, Ellington and other classical bands).
This is therefore a beautiful blend of the be-bop musical language and more subdued and subtle arranging ("neo-classical"), creating a genuine and very influential cool breeze that will influence future cool and west-coast jazz artists. Gerry Mulligan seems to be the best arranger of the album (although Gil Evans is also excellent), while Miles, Mulligan and Konitz give the most inspiring solos if you want my humble opinion...
Well, since other have put it so eloquently, I'll only add my 5 stars...
Naturally, if you liked Porgy and Bess or Sketches of SpainSketches Of Spain you're bound to love this as well...
Free Music Review: A Real Cool Time
Hit: 5 Stars
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.