Miles Davis and the Birth of the Cool

The trumpeter Miles Davis is arguably one of the best-known figures in the history of jazz. He is admired as much for his style and cultural impact as for the significance of his musical contributions. From his early days as a sideman with "bebop" innovators such as Charlie "Bird" Parker to his later use of electronic instruments, Davis constantly pushed the envelope of what constituted jazz. In doing so, he made a lasting impact on the listening public. However, it was his influence on the musicians he worked with and those that followed that is most important.

Davis's most significant contributions to jazz as an art form are commonly considered to be represented by three periods. The first, and the focus of this essay, is the late-1940s-early-1950s nine-piece-band, or nonet, recordings. These have since become known as the Birth of the Cool sessions. The name was given to the 12 songs by a record executive when they were issued as an album in 1957. The title refers to the commonly held belief that these recordings gave birth to a new style of jazz. This form is often referred to as "cool" or West Coast jazz. Although the style was associated with the laid-back atmosphere of California, the Birth of the Cool sessions were the product of a group of New York musicians. They were lead by Davis and the arranger Gil Evans.

Evans had been writing arrangements for Claude Thornhill's big band. He met Davis while trying to obtain permission to arrange Davis's compositions for Thornhill. Davis agreed, but requested that he be allowed to look at other scores Evans had arranged. Evans's apartment in Manhattan's West 50s soon became a meeting place for young musicians and writers. Davis and saxophone player Gerry Mulligan, who would write three of the songs recorded on Birth of the Cool, were regulars. Also regulars were the saxaphonist Lee Konitz, drummer Max Roach, pianist John Lewis, and bass player Joe Shulman. Out of their late-night talks came the idea, as Davis would later describe it, of "wanting to sound like Thornhill's band . . . but the difference was that we wanted it as small as possible." In order to achieve this sound, they settled on a nine-piece band. The instrumentation--trumpet, trombone, tuba, alto and baritone saxophones, French horn, piano, bass, and drum--was unlike that of any previous jazz group. According to Davis, "I wanted the instruments to sound like human voices, and they did." The group was together for only a brief time. There was a two-week residency at the Royal Roost club in 1948. They performed for one week at another club the following year. They assembled for three recording sessions between January 1949 and March 1950. Those sessions were later assembled into the Birth of the Cool album.

The Birth of the Cool proved to be so influential because, in large part, much of the audience that had followed big band and swing music was alienated by the jazz music of the time. By 1950 jazz had evolved into the fiery, passionate yet introverted, technically brilliant style of bebop that was practiced by players such as Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Bebop was unlike the carefully orchestrated big band and swing arrangements. It was created improvisationally, with the chord structures of the songs providing a mere outline for the flights of fancy created by the musicians as they were playing. No two performances of the same song were ever the same. Many people found the music difficult to follow. As Davis later explained, "Bird and Diz played this hip, real fast thing, and if you weren't a fast listener, you couldn't catch the humor or the feeling in their music . . . [the] sound wasn't sweet, and it didn't have harmonic lines that you could easily hum out on the street. . . . Birth of the Cool was different because you could hear everything and hum it also." The music captured in the three recording sessions from which Birth of the Cool was derived was unlike either bebop or big band. It did, however, owe its sound to both. The nonet combined the "sweet" voicings and arrangements of big band jazz with the improvisational genius of bebop. By removing the fiery harshness associated with bebop, the group created a sound that would have far-reaching effects on the jazz world.

The most immediate evidence of the impact of Birth of the Cool can be seen in the careers of the musicians involved in the nonet. Mulligan went on to further influence the "cool" jazz style with his work with Chet Baker and his pianoless quartet groups. Mulligan also toured for many years with his own nonet. Konitz also became identified with the style. His later work continued to be heavily influenced by the music he played with Davis. Lewis later founded the Modern Jazz Quartet, whose music was known for its use of improvisation in more formally arranged pieces, often influenced by European classical music.

Prior to the 1950s Davis had been primarily known as a sideman in other bands. With Birth of the Cool, he became a leader in every sense of the word. According to Mulligan, "He [Davis] took the initiative and put the theories to work. He called the rehearsals, hired the halls, called the players, and generally cracked the whip." Davis remained a leader for the rest of his incredible career. It included at least two other groundbreaking periods: the creation of modal jazz with the album Kind of Blue, and the fusion of electric rock and jazz with In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew.