Cool jazz
Cool jazz is a
jazz style that emerged in the late 1940s in
New York City, primarily from 'Californian' white musicians. In 1946, after the
Second World War, these musicians moved to
New York. Once there, they discussed and rehearsed jazz with mostly Afro-American musicians from the New York bop-groups. The
Claude Thornhill Orchestra with the arranger
Gil Evans, and Lennie Tristano with Billy Bauer and Warne Marsh recorded cool jazz as early as the late 1940s. Thornhill's most popular song, "Snowfall", is still played today. Later on (1952 by Mulligan), cool jazz became the
West coast jazz or
West coast cool.
Along with the
bebop movement developed during the 1940s, the 1950s ushered in a lighter, more romantic style of jazz called "cool". The roots of cool jazz can be traced back to various earlier styles.
*
Miles Davis Nonet 1949/50 and with Gil Evans (1957-63)
* The Gil Evans Orchestra (1957-64)
*
Gerry Mulligan with
Chet Baker *
Lee Konitz (with Tristano, Thornhill, Evans, Davis)
*
Dave Brubeck with
Paul Desmond*
Stan Getz*
Chico Hamilton*
George Shearing*
Shelly Manne*
Modern Jazz Quartet*
Jazz*
Forever Cool: Cool and West Coast Jazz on the Internet*
Download sample of "Boplicity" ('Cleo Henry' aka Gil Evans) by the
Miles Davis-Nonet from the album
Birth of the Cool
