Sub-genre of jazz associated with the U.S. West Coast
Cool jazz
Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1962
Stylistic origins
Bebop
swing
classical
third stream
Cultural origins
1940s, United States
Derivative forms
Modal jazz
straight-ahead jazz
Local scenes
Los Angeles
San Francisco
New York City
Other topics
West Coast jazz
Cool jazz is a style of modern jazz music inspired by bebop and big band[1] that arose in the United States after World War II. It is characterized by relaxed tempos and a lighter tone than that used in the fast and complex bebop style. Cool jazz often employs formal arrangements and incorporates elements of classical music. Broadly, the genre refers to a number of post-war jazz styles employing a more subdued approach than that of contemporaneous jazz idioms.[2] As Paul Tanner, Maurice Gerow, and David Megill suggest, "the tonal sonorities of these conservative players could be compared to pastel colors, while the solos of [Dizzy] Gillespie and his followers could be compared to fiery red colors."[3]
The term cool started being applied to this music around 1953, when Capitol Records released the album Classics in Jazz: Cool and Quiet.[4] Mark C. Gridley, writing in the All Music Guide to Jazz, identifies four overlapping sub-categories of cool jazz:[2]
"Soft variants of bebop," including the Miles Davis recordings that constitute Birth of the Cool; the complete works of the Modern Jazz Quartet; the output of Gerry Mulligan, especially his work with Chet Baker and Bob Brookmeyer; the music of Stan Kenton's sidemen during the late 1940s through the 1950s; and the works of George Shearing and Stan Getz.
The output of modern players who eschewed bebop in favor of advanced swing-era developments, including Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz, and Warne Marsh; Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond; and performers such as Jimmy Giuffre and Dave Pell who were influenced by Count Basie and Lester Young's small-group music.
Musicians from either of the previous categories who were active in California from the 1940s through the 1960s, developing what came to be known as West Coast jazz.
"Exploratory music with a subdued effect by Teddy Charles, Chico Hamilton, John LaPorta, and their colleagues during the 1950s."
^Calkins, Caroll C.; Balaban, Priscilla B.; Kelleher, Mary; Latham, Frank B.; Conefrey, Rosemarie; Huber, Robert V.; Pace, Georgea A.; Woodward, Robert J., eds. (1975). The Story of America. United States: Reader's Digest. pp. 398–399.
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Cooljazz is a style of modern jazz music inspired by bebop and big band that arose in the United States after World War II. It is characterized by relaxed...
Birth of the Cool is a compilation album by the American jazz trumpeter and bandleader Miles Davis, released in February 1957 by Capitol Records. It compiles...
List of cooljazz and West Coast jazz musicians and vocalists. Curtis Amy : 97, 105 - Saxophone Earl Anderza - alto saxophone David Axelrod - composer...
was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cooljazz developed near the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds...
jazz refers to styles of jazz that developed in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a subgenre of cool jazz...
Texas, U.S. Cool (band), a South Korean K-pop music group CooljazzCool (George Duke album) (2000) Lupe Fiasco's The Cool (2007) The Cool (character)...
he recorded the Birth of the Cool sessions for Capitol Records, which were instrumental to the development of cooljazz. In the early 1950s, Davis recorded...
saxophonists—playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cooljazz—Mulligan was also a significant arranger working with Claude Thornhill...
subgenres of jazz music. Jazz portal Cook, Richard (2005). Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopedia. London: Penguin. p. 2. ISBN 0-141-00646-3. "Acid jazz (genre)"...
remained at the top of awareness of jazz, while its harmonic devices were adapted to the new "cool" school of jazz led by Miles Davis and others. It continued...
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion, jazz rock, and jazz-rock fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz...
Chamber jazz Continental jazzCooljazz Dixieland or 'Early Jazz'. Free jazz Gypsy jazz Hard Bop Latin jazz Mainstream jazz M-Base Neo-bop Orchestral jazz Post-bop...
CoolJazz and Coconuts (Icelandic: Kókóstré og Hvítir Mávar) is a 1985 Icelandic drama film directed by Jakob Frímann Magnússon. It was entered into the...
jazz, playing an important role in the development of cooljazz, modal jazz, free jazz, and jazz fusion. He is best known for his acclaimed collaborations...
studies in 2014. In 2015, he participated in the Vodafone Mexefest and EDP CoolJazz festivals. During this time, Sobral traveled through several cities in...
an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cooljazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned...
the only one commercially available. Christy had been associated with "cool" jazz since her vocal work with the Stan Kenton Orchestra in the 1940s and early...
used in jazz such as French horn and tuba. These recordings, which were labeled cooljazz and eventually appeared on the album Birth of the Cool in 1957...
American jazz alto saxophonist and composer. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cooljazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's...
replaced with a tendency towards calm and smoothness, with the sounds of cooljazz, which favoured long, linear melodic lines. It emerged in New York City...
was pursuing a project that gave birth to the cooljazz movement later to be called Birth of the Cool. Kay befriended Davis and, during his later marriage...
The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical, cooljazz, blues and bebop. The Quartet consisted...
excellent example of cooljazz. However, not all of the musicians who join Davis on this album were full-time members of jazz'scool school... But even...
1925 – June 21, 1990) was an American singer, known for her work in the cooljazz genre and for her silky smooth vocals. Her success as a singer began with...
Trad jazz, short for "traditional jazz", is a form of jazz in the United States and Britain that flourished from the 1930s to 1960s, based on the earlier...
song is known for its distinctive two-chord piano/bass vamp (E♭m-B♭m7), cooljazz saxophone melodies, drum solo, and unorthodox meter, from which Dave Brubeck...
into such later developments as Bossa nova, modal jazz, and even free jazz. See also the list of cooljazz and West Coast musicians for further detail. Duke...