Best Cool Jazz Record

jcidulka, whaddayamean 'cool jazz?' cool like west coast jazz or cool like, 'yeah baby'?

'cause coltrane my boy aint makin it to the west coast cool side a things that fo sho. but chet baker sho nuf is, tho.

There is a radio station in NYC, CD 101.9, that bills it self as a broadcaster of "cool jazz". Most of the cute pop-jazz that they play is not jazz at all.

During the forties and fifties, as Kublakhan points out in his inimitable style, a "cool school" of jazz playing was thriving along with the bop and hard bop of that time. This cool approach to jazz playing was characterized by a more laid back attitude, quieter energy, and softer and warmer tone qualities with less edge in the sound than was common in the hard bop style. Sometimes, European forms such as the rondo (Brubeck's "Blue Rondo A La Turk")were used. Notable exponents of this style were: Dave Brubeck, Chet Baker, Paul Desmond, Gerry Mulligan, MJQ, and of course Miles, whose "Birth Of The Cool" sessions get my vote for "best". "Kind OF Blue" really doesn't belong to that style; it is more indicative of the burgeoning "modal" movement in improvised jazz. Regards.

well hi-di-ho frogman, well said!

At the beach this weekend, Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments" came forth from the boombox. While the rest of "Blues and the Abtract Truth" veers back into bop, this has to be one of the coolest jazz tunes ever recorded.

PS, so nice not to give a damn about the equipment every once in awhile.

KIND OF BLUE! KIND OF BLUE! KIND OF BLUE! Is there really any other possible choice? Groundbreaking, visionary, sublime,....the greatest Jazz recording that ever was or will be. Maybe one of the greatest ever recordings of any classification! Another great "cool jazz" record by Miles is "Someday My Prince Will Come". Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and "Blue Train" ain't half bad either.