Cool jazz
Sub-genre of jazz associated with the U.S. West Coast / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
Cool jazz | |
---|---|
Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | 1940s, United States |
Derivative forms | |
Local scenes | |
| |
Other topics | |
West Coast jazz |
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."