Description
*This is a Vinyl LP*
Release Date: 2019
Label: Capitol Records
Track List
Side A
A1. Move
A2. Jeru
A3. Moon Dreams
A4. Venus De Milo
A5. Budo
A6. Deception
Side B
B1. Godchild
B2. Boplicity
B3. Rocker
B4. Israel
B5. Rouge
B6. Darn That Dream
Side C
C1. Birth Of The Cool Theme
C2. Symphony Sid Announces The Band
C3. Move
C4. Why Do I Love You
C5. Godchild
C6. Symphony Sid Introduction
C7. S’il Vous Plait
Side D
D1. Moon Dreams
D2. Budo (Hallucination)
D3. Darn That Dream
D4. Move
D5. Moon Dreams
D6. Budo (Hallucinations)
Personnel
Alto Saxophone – Lee Konitz
Baritone Saxophone – Gerry Mulligan
Bass – Al McKibbon, Joe Shulman, Nelson Boyd
Drums – Kenny Clarke, Max Roach
French Horn – Junior Collins, Gunther Schuller, Sandy Siegelstein
Piano – Al Haig, John Lewis
Trombone – J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding, Mike Zwerin
Trumpet – Miles Davis
Tuba – Bill Barber
Vocals – Kenny Hagood
Notes
Remastered from the original session tapes
1948 live set on vinyl for the first time!
New essay by Ashley Kahn
These pivotal, way-ahead-of-their-time 1949-1950 nonet recordings (with Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, Gil Evans et al ) remain jazz classics.
“Birth of the Cool is the first important leader date from Miles Davis, one of jazz’s most seminal figures and farsighted practitioners. Having made his reputation in large measure from playing with bop giant Charlie Parker, Davis confounded expectations when he embraced the “cool” arranging style of Gil Evans, an arranger for Claude Thornhill’s band. Evans, who was employing unique voicings by adding French horns and tuba to Thornhill’s instrumentations, also emphasized a diminished use of vibrato in both reeds and brass, producing a drier, “cool” sound.
“Two of Evans’s arrangements, “Boplicity” and “Moon Dreams,” appear on the album. Also involved are baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, who contributed such outstanding tunes as “Jeru” and “Venus de Milo,” and Modern Jazz Quartet pianist John Lewis. The result is a date that has withstood the tests of time, fashion, and Davis’s own extraordinary growth as a performer.”
