Cool Jazz Legends

8/3/2019 Cool Jazz Legends

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Donovan Tan


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Contents

Cool Jazz

Introduction

Prez-ident

Lester Young

52nd Street52

Time Out

The Dave Brubeck

Quartet

The Sound

from Ipanema

Stan Getz

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis

4

6

10

14

18

22

1

2

3

4

5

6Acknowledgement

Wikipedia.org

AllAboutJazz.com

StanGetz.net

Britanica.com

MilesDavis.com

DaveBrubeck.com

Mosaic Records

This book is

dedicated to

Victoria School

Concert Band,,

batch o 2004.2004

Nil Sine Labore

7 Jazz Posters

23


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s a style o Modern Jazz music thatarose during the Second World War.The style became known as Cool Jazzbecause it avoided the aggressiveempos o bebop.The tones became

soter, the volume quieter, the temposslower, and the rhythms lighter and lessarring.

Cool Jazz included intricate

arrangements, innovative orms, andsongs having a thoroughly composedsound, although they did includemprovised sections. It was in some

ways a reaction to bebop, utilizing bopsharmonic complexity, but bringing backa ew aspects rom swing.

Cool Jazz had several sources. ArrangersGil Evans and Gerry Mulligan developedheir initial ideas, working or the Claude

Thornhill Orchestra eaturing suchhen-unheard-o instruments, or jazz, asrench horn and tuba.

.

Another variety o Cool Jazz was thato the pianist Lennie Tristano and hisstudents. Its coolness was a mattero emotion, but his emphasis onsometimes erociously ast temposand on pure improvisation, rather than

arrangement, was closer to bebop.

The classic mixture o these variousinuences was during the 1949-1950sessions now best known under theirlater title: Miles Daviss Birth o the Cool(1950), a collective project that drewtogether many players and arrangers/composers rom the period bestrepresented this style o jazz. Cool Jazzlater became identifed strongly with

West Coast jazz.

The Cool Jazz inuence stretches intosuch later developments as Bossa Nova,modal jazz, and even Free Jazz.

19501950/

Lester

Prez

Young

Cool Jazz


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Fromthebeginning, LesterYoungsetouttobe

diFFerent: inthe Forties, hegrewhishairout.

theothertenorpLaYersheLdtheirsaxophones

uprightinFrontoFthem, soYoungheLdhisout

totheside, kindoFLikeaFLute. hawkinspLaYed

aroundharmonicruns. YoungpLaYedFLurriesoF

notesandhadahugetonethattheothertenor

pLaYersoFthedaYemuLated. YoungusedasoFter

tonethatresuLtedinasoFt, Lightsound. heused

LessnotesandsLurrednotestogether, creating

moremeLodicsoLos. hepLaYedusingaLotoF

subtLetiestoproducemusicthat biLLie hoLidaY

saidFLipsYououtoFYourseatwithsurprise.

40

Prez-ident

Lester

Young


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Young moved to Kansas City in the

1930s, and played in various groups,including King Oliver, Benny Moten,

and the traveling Fletcher Henderson

orchestra. In 1936, Young joined the

Count Basie Orchestra and stayed there

until 1949. Within 4 years, he had played

in top-rated big band and small group

settings! Some sources say that he gave

Billie Holiday the nickname Lady Day

and she gave him the nickname Prez

(others say he became the new Prez-

ident when he deeated Hawkins).

In 1944, Young was drated into the

Army. When he was caught smokingmarijuana, he was court-martialed and

spent months in detention. He came

back a fne player, but his light, airy,

happy tone had let and his music had

a darker side to it. He joined Norman

Granz Jazz at the Philharmonic tour,

but his health decline, and he drank

more oten and was hospitalized. He

returned to the States a sick man and

died a year later, at the age o 49.

30 19361949 4y

194449

One o the great

jazz myths says that

Hawkins, the star

player o Hendersons

orchestra missed a

show. Young flled in

or him and played

so wonderully,

that Hawkins went

looking or Young,

sax in hand, to

teach the youngwhippersnapper

a lesson.


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KIND of BLUE

miLes davispLaYedthetrumpetina

LYricaL, introspective, andmeLodic

stYLe, oFtenempLoYingastemLessharmon

mutetomakehissoundmorepersonaL

andintimate. toexaminehiscareeris

toexaminethehistorYoFjazzFromthe

mid-40stotheearLY 90s, sincehewas

inthethickoFaLmosteverYimportant

innovationandstYListicdeveLopmentin

themusicduringthatperiod. itcaneven

bearguedthatjazzstoppedevoLvingwhen

daviswasnttheretopushitForward.

40

Miles Davis


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In the summer o 1948 Davis organized

a nine-piece band eaturing an alto

saxophone, a baritone saxophone, a

trombone, a French horn, and a tuba.

The band's relaxed sound

had a proound inuence

on the development o the

cool jazz style. In February

1957, Capitol fnally issuedthe tracks together on an

LP called Birth o the Cool.

In May 1957, Davis teamed

with Gil Evans or his

second LP, Miles Ahead.

Released in 1958, the

album was later inducted

into the Grammy Hall o

Fame, intended to honor recordings

made beore the Grammy Awards were

instituted in 1959.

Davis began to experiment with modal

playing, basing his improvisations on

scales rather than chord changes. This

led to his next band recording, Kind

o Blue, in March and

April 1959, an album

that became a landmark

in modern jazz and the

most popular disc oDavis career, eventually

selling over two million

copies, a phenomenal

success or a jazz record.

On October 7, 2008,

Kind o Blue received

its ourth platinum

certifcation rom the

RIAA, signiying sales o 4 million

copies. Davis was noted as one o the

key fgures in the history o jazz.

The bands

relaxed sound

had a prooundinfuence on the

development

o the cool jazz

style on the

West Coast.

1948

19572

1957519581959

19594200

107200819594002006.


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The Dave Brubeck

Quartet

the dave brubeck Quartetbecamethe

soundthatidentiFiedanera. itwastheY

whostartedthewaveoFpopuLaritYoFjazzon

coLLegecampusesintheFiFties. concurrentLY,

theYwerepLaYingintheLeadingjazzcLubs,

andtouringwith charLie parker, dizzY

giLLespie, stan getzandothermusiciansoF

thebopera. bY 1954, brubeckspicturehad

appearedonthecoveroFtime magazineaLong

withaFeaturestorYheraLdingtherebirth

oFjazz. in 1960, the dave brubeck Quartet,

reLeasedtheaLbum, time out, anditssingLes,

"take Five" and "bLue rondoaLaturk,"becametheFirstinmodernjazzto "gogoLd".

19541960

TIME OUT


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1942

Dave Brubeck is

an American jazz

pianist known

or employing

unusual time

signatures, and

superimposing

contrasting

hythms, meters, and tonalities. His

musical partner, alto saxophonist Paul

Desmond, wrote the quartet's best

emembered piece, "Take Five",which

has endured as a jazz classic on the top-

selling jazz album, Time Out.

Brubeck entered the College o the

Pacifc studying veterinary science, but

ranserred on the urging o the head

o zoology. Later, Brubeck was nearly

expelled when one o his proessors

discovered that he could not read music.

The college was araid that it wouldcause a scandal, and agreed to let

Brubeck graduate only ater he promised

never to teach piano.

1951

1959

1961

Ater graduating in 1942, Brubeck was

drated into the army. He was spared

rom service when he volunteered to

play piano at a Red Cross show; he was

such a hit he was ordered to orm a

band. While serving, Brubeck met Paul

Desmond.

He returned to college ater serving.

Ater completing his studies, Brubeck

organized The Dave Brubeck Quartet

in 1951, with Desmond on saxophone.

They took up a long residency at San

Franciscos Black Hawk nightclub and

gained great popularity touring college

campuses. In 1959, the Dave Brubeck

Quartet recorded Time Out. The album

contained all original compositions. It

quickly went platinum.

The quartet ollowed up its success

with several more albums in the samevein, including Time Further Out (1961),

Countdown: Time in Outer Space, Time

Changes, and Time In.

Brubeck entered the College

o the Pacifc studying

veterinary science, but

transerred on the urging o

the head o zoology, who told

him Brubeck, your minds

not here. Its across the lawn

in the conservatory. Please go

there. Stop wasting my time

and yours.


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stanLeY getzwasajazzsaxophone

pLaYer. getzwasknownas the

sound becauseoFhiswarm, LYricaLtone,

hisprimeinFLuencebeingthewispY, meLLow

timbreoF LesterYoung. getzisdescribed

as oneoFtheaLL-timegreattenor

saxophonists. getzwentontoperForm

inbebop, cooLjazzandthirdstream, but

isperhapsbestknownForpopuLarizingthe

bossanova, asintheworLdwidehitsingLe

the girLFrom ipanema (1964).

The Sound From Ipanema

Stan Getz

1964


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Getzs parents were Ukrainian Jews

who emigrated rom the Kiev area. Getz

worked hard in school, receiving straight

As, and fnished sixth grade close to the

op o his class. Getzs major interest

was in musical instruments. His ather

bought him his frst saxophone at the

age o 13. Getz instantly ell in love with

he saxophone and began practicing

eight hours a day.

In 1943 at the

age o 16, he was

accepted into

Jack Teagardens

band. Getz alsoplayed along

with Nat King

Cole and Lionel

Hampton. Ater playing or Stan Kenton,

Jimmy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman,

Getz was a soloist with Woody Herman

rom 1947 to 1949 and he frst gained

wide attention as one o the bands

saxophonists. With Herman, he had a hit

with Early Autumn. In the mid to late

950s, Getz became popular playing cool

azz with Horace Silver, Johnny Smith,

Oscar Peterson, and many others.

In 1961, Getz

became a

central fgure

in introducing

bossa nova

music to the

American

audience. Getz

recorded Jazz Samba in 1962 and it

became a hit. Getz won the Grammy

or Best Jazz Perormance o 1963 or

Desafnado, rom the same album. It

sold over one million copies, and was

awarded a gold disc.

As a ollow-up, Getz recorded the album,Jazz Samba Encore!. It also sold more

than a million copies by 1964, giving

Getz his second gold disc.

He then recorded the album Getz/

Gilberto, in 1963, with Tom Jobim, Joo

Gilberto and his wie, Astrud Gilberto.

Their The Girl rom Ipanema won a

Grammy Award. The piece became one

o the most well-known latin jazz tracks.

Getz/Gilberto won two Grammys (Best

Album and Best Single).

13

194316194719492050

196119621963Desafinado

1964

/1963/)


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The blocks o 52nd Street betweenFith Avenue and Seventh Avenue wererenowned in the mid 20th century or

the abundance o jazz clubs and livelystreet lie. The street was convenient tomusicians playing on Broadway and thelegitimate nightclubs and was alsothe site o a CBS studio. Musicians whoplayed or others in the early eveningplayed or themselves on 52nd Street.

In its heyday rom 1930 through theearly 1950s, 52nd Street clubs hostedsuch jazz legends as Miles Davis,Harry Gibson, Dizzy Gillespie, BillieHoliday, Nat Jae, Marian McPartland,Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, LouisPrima, Art Tatum, Fats Waller, and manymore. Although musicians rom allschools perormed there, ater Mintons

Playhouse in uptown Harlem, 52ndStreet was the second most important

place or the dissemination o bebop.In act, a tune called 52nd Street Themeby Thelonious Monk became a bebopanthem and jazz standard.

Virtually every great jazz player andsinger o the era perormed at clubssuch as Downbeat, The Famous Door,Jimmy Ryans, The Onyx, Three Deuces,and the Yacht Club. Noted jazz discjockey Symphony Sid requently did livebroadcasts rom the street, making itamous across the country.

52ndStreet

522052

19302050525252

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Jazz Posters

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Cool Jazz Legends