Birth of the Cool

Many of these innovative tunes were initially released as singles on 78s, but the achievements of the trumpeter and his collaborators—including arranger Gil Evans and alto saxophonist Lee Konitz—begged to be grouped together as an album. Miles’ concept is concrete: cool jazz played by a midsize group and heavy on low-register brass, including trombone and French horn. Effervescent, bebop-influenced solos (“Move“) collide with contemporary classical harmony (“Moon Dreams”), but thanks to the ensemble\'s skill, the whole set sounds unified and gorgeous.

So dubbed because these three sessions -- two from early 1949, one from March 1950 -- are where the sound known as cool jazz essentially formed, Birth of the Cool remains one of the defining, pivotal moments in jazz.