@djpari_

On this day in 1949, 70 years ago, Miles Davis and arranger Gil Evans took a group of eight musicians, including drummer #KennyClarke, tenorman #LeeKonitz, baritone saxophonist #GerryMulligan and pianist #JohnLewis, to a Capitol Records recording studio in New York City for the first of three sessions that ultimately resulted in the landmark album "Birth of the Cool." The idea for this project came out of the often mythologized musician hangouts at Evans' smoke-filled basement apartment on 55th Street where tomorrow's talent engaged in passionate discussions about the future of jazz. One of the most important concepts developed there, that would shape the genre for decades to come, was the revelation to pair horns together rather then pitying them against each other, as was common in the big bands of the swing era. Initially Evans had envisioned to let Charlie Parker take lead of the project, but instead he decided to ask Davis, who was 22 at the time and still trying to find his voice, to helm the group that eventually became known as the Miles Davis Nonet. The group recorded 12 tracks during three sessions over a year and a half, with Davis, Mulligan, Konitz and tuba player #BillBarber being the only musicians participating in all of them. Some of the material recorded in these sessions was released gradually on a series of 78s over the coming years and then on a 10-inch LP titled "Classic in Jazz - Miles Davis" in 1954. It wasn't until 1957 that Capitol finally issued 11 of the tracks as a full length album dubbed "Birth of the Cool." I could say much more about the significance of this album — nothing that hasn't already been written many times over — but it should be noted that it was "Birth of the Cool" that first established Davis as an innovator and the album is often credited with starting the cool jazz movement. My personal highlight here is "Boplicity," a tune cut on the April 1949 session, that contains many hallmarks of the new sub-genre created with this album. My copy is a 1st mono pressing of the original “Birth of the Cool” released on Capitol Records.