Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool
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Free Music Notes for Birth of the Cool
Free Music Review: Get Kind of Blue first
Hit: 5 Stars
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.
Free Music Review: Brilliant ensemble musicianship on "Cool"
Hit: 5 Stars
An album that has earned it's place as one of the cornerstones of modern jazz is "Birth Of The Cool". Recorded right after his stint playing and recording with Charlie Parker, Miles assembled an incredible group of musicians including Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, John Lewis, Kai Winding and Max Roach. The interplay between these guys is amazing!! The standout tracks include "Venus De Milo", "Jeru"(both penned by Gerry Mulligan), and "Rouge"(by John Lewis). These twelve songs originally released on 78's in 1949 and 1950 were eventually released as an album by Capitol in 1957. Upon picking up this reissue I was surprised to find out that the original first generation master tapes had not been used since Rudy Van Gelder cut the 78 lacquers all those years ago. For recordings that were cut in mono over fifty years ago the sound is so open and clear that it's incredible. This one comes highly recommended. Not only a major highlight in Miles Davis' career, but for jazz music too.Free Music Review: Legendary Cool Jazz, One Awesome Debut!
Hit: 5 Stars
The songs on The Birth of the Cool are like the ninja of old. They do what they need to, fast, and leave. But unlike ninja attacks, these songs (which include classics like "Jeru", "Venus de Milo" and "Boplicity") are not painful in the least. The arrangements are tight and the songs are melodic, slightly Hollywood-esque but quite beautiful and well-performed. The songs themselves are also quite brief, as I implied a few sentence back - nothing over five minutes, in fact. The nonet plays together quite well, complementing each other throughout. They all have the mellow sound down - the album kinda sounds alike, but with great songs like "Rogue", "Rocker" and "Israel" on hand, who can complain? Now the only song I don't really like is "Darn That Dream", which falls in my list of Ten Songs We've All Heard Too Many Times Before. As for the rest? Get it. Not before Kind of Blue, 'Round about Midnight or In a Silent Way, but still get it!Free Music Review: Very admirable, though cool indeed
Hit: 5 Stars
This was certainly a very original recording, and has had heaps of praise lavished upon it ever since people became aware of its importance. It is to my mind especially remarkable for its orchestration, which was ground-breaking, and hugely accomplished as well as new in invention. But even at this level the music, excellent though it is, fills me with intellectual respect rather than that I genuinely LIKE it, which sounds almost like blasphemy to utter, and especially because I so much admire Davis, Mulligan, Evans and Lewis in other contexts. Outside the arrangements for the group, there are good but somewhat unexciting - and very short - solos. In the end one's emotional judgement really becomes a matter of subjectivity. I must confess that this is an impeccable work, and for those whose taste it is it cannot easily be over-recommended. If I fail to respond with true ardour, the fault may well be mine. - Joost DaalderFree Music Review: Birth of the Cool Indeed
Hit: 5 Stars
It was during the 1940s that Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie were responsible for the bebop evolution/revolution that changed jazz forever. As that decade ended, Miles Davis (formerly from Parker's band) founded one of the two distinct styles that resulted from the "splitting" of bebop - the other, of course, was hard-bop. With this recording, Miles showed the world what "cool" jazz was supposed to be. The contributions of Gil Evans and Gerry Mulligan were absolutely essential to that, and the final result was this album filled with astounding compositions and marvelous arrangements. (Kenny Hagwood's singing in "Darn That Dream" sounds pretty odd, though. I guess Johnny Hartman wasn't in town. A pity.) The fact that Miles Davis, who "created" cool jazz, also became a major hard-bop star is not ironic at all: that's just how complete his talent was.