Miles Davis: Birth of Cool

By: Andrew Moran

To many he is the greatest jazz trumpet musician of all time.  To others he is just the coolest man of all time.  Miles Davis.  The man who gave birth to the world “cool.”  Hence, his album “the birth of the cool.”

Click Here for So What

Click Here for Stockholm Concert Song "Agitation"

Miles Davis was the inventor of the cool movement in jazz and the bebop cool.  The highlights of Miles Davis’ career were his “First Great Quintet and Sextet.”  This band featured, his longtime duet player in the future, Tenor Saxophone player John Coltrane, piano player Red Garland, double bass sensation Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones on the drums.  Their first great album was released on Columbia called “’Round About Midnight.”

A lot of jazz historians say it is hard to put Miles Davis into words because he was such an influential man.  You do have to watch Miles Davis play, just to get a sense of what he is about.

One of the greatest, if not, the greatest album of all time was released in 1959 named “Kind of Blue.”  This album featured “So What” “All Blues “My Funny Valentine” and “Autumn Leaves.”

In an interview after his “Birth of the Cool” album was released he stated, “In the summer of 1948, I was in New York on vacation from the University of Miami where I was majoring in sailing.  No.  Actually, sixteen of us were on scholarship to play for dinner in the student cafeteria, which was cantilevered out over an artificial lake…” Later talking about his trumpet playing, “In those days I played my horn like a kid skiing down a slalom, with more courage than sense.”

Miles Davis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 13^th, 2006.  He has also been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame, and the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.  Also Davis had won eight Grammy Awards plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Hollywood Walk of Fame star.

On a personal note, Miles Davis’ greatest concert was his Stockholm concert with John Coltrane in 1963.  This is greatest jazz concert you’ll ever see in your life.  They were fierce.  They were cool.  They were playing jazz.  Unfortunately, in my opinion, his downhill came in the late sixties or early seventies when he started to perform jazz-fusion or jazz acid.  But many fans of original jazz will always have his terrific concerts and innovated forms of bebop and modal cool.