12. Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool (1957)

Tracks: Move//Jeru//Moon Dreams//Venus De Milo//Budo//Deception//Godchild//Boplicity//Rocker//Israel//Rouge//Darn That Dream

Review:

Well, another review and we now welcome the wonderful Mr. Miles Davis to the blog. Unfortunately, this is not one of his best albums. Which is an unfortunate way of phrasing it I suppose, as it makes The Birth of the Cool sound like a bad album – and that it most certainly is not. It’s just, well, I don’t know – bop. I had never actually heard a bop recording by Davis before, having listened to anything prior to Kind of Blue. He does it well, I suppose, although even in 1949 he wasn’t playing by the rules.

As I understand it, Davis managed to get together a nonet, and Gil Evans to write arrangements. They set-out to do something, though I’m not sure what entirely. I do know that they wanted to smooth-out bebop a bit, and to introduce some of the more elaborate, carefully orchestrated arrangements and complex structures from both classical music and previous forms of swing, rather than the simple ‘verse-solo” sort of thing we saw a few albums back with Thelonious Monk. So, Davis had a deal to cut twelve sides with Capitol (these being pre-LP days), and used the opportunity to capture some recordings by his nonet. They were released to very little public interest or approval, and then seven years later when Davis’ star had risen they got a snappy reissue in LP format.

In terms of both historical importance and influence, this is a big deal as albums go. The title is a misnomer as this isn’t actually Cool Jazz, but it would go on to influence Cool Jazz. The more elaborate structuring, while still incorporating numerous solos, would lend itself to the development of the classical/jazz hybrid Third Stream, too (Davis’ own Sketches of Spain is a good example of this). Add to this that it was the first important role Davis played as leader, and his major recording (if I’m right) and you get a lot of reasons as to why someone should be interested. I mean, it’s not going too far to argue that Miles Davis is one of the most important figures in 20^th century music.

Having said all this, while the formal innovations of Birth of the Cool are interesting, and while it’s a pleasant listen and certainly a decent album by most criteria, this doesn’t do much for me. A treasure house of ideas it may be but that doesn’t mean I want to listen to it all the time. It’s nice. I especially like the sudden rising note two thirds of the way through “Moon Dreams’ that leads it away into what seems like another song entirely. But, in the end, I don’t care much for it. The songs are small and friendly and ultimately, just sort of... well, I don’t know. I can’t explain why I don’t much care for this. A lot of people seem to have similar reactions. I’ll put it on to listen to it. I like it. I just don’t love it.

Having said that, this is the sort of album that rewards repeated listens. It’s a good album for paying close attention to, and I can see myself loving it if I give it more time than the dictates of this blog allow. One exception to this, however, is the vocal number "Darn that Dream". It's atrocious. The singer is really quite awful. It makes me feel better about marking this down.

So, a mixed review! Still, as debuts go it's top stuff. Swings, too.

Actually, I changed my mind. It's great. I think the thing that throws you is that it's just sort of difficult to know exactly what to make of such a chimera. Anyway the potential click I was speaking of just happened. Get this! It grows on you.

8/10

Download: Miles Davis - Godchild Mp3