Playing It Cool: Classic West Jazz 1953-1961

Once upon a time in the jazz world it was 'hip to be hot'. Indeed, for the first forty five years of its existence jazz was defined by heat, passion, urgency and a dance pulse. From its inception in New Orleans jazz could be described as uproarious, hard-swinging, good-time party music and was almost exclusively associated with the idea of being 'hot'. Paradoxically, prior to the 1950s 'hot' was the epitome of cool in the hip lexicon of jazz. But in 1948, when bebop with its fast-flowing improvisations was at its zenith, a young man from East St. Louis called Miles Davis - who had played alongside Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie at the birth of bebop - doused the music's hot flames and cooled jazz down. More than that, he changed the public perception of jazz forever. Eternally restless and compelled to embrace change however, Miles Davis didn't stick with the cool school he co-founded with his landmark 'The Birth Of The Cool' recordings, and moved on to explore hard bop in the '50s, before embarking on another voyage of discovery with modal jazz. But it was a different story on America's West Coast where Davis' antidote to the frenetic bebop aesthetic had a profound effect on likeminded Californian jazz musicians, who were drawn to playing a more laid-back kind of jazz that chimed perfectly with the laissez faire sensibility of the Sunshine State temperament. This collection features a selection of the finest 'Cool Jazz' as produced on the USA's West Coast between the years of 1953 & 1961 - the Golden Age of this dynamic style of music. Featuring names as varied as Chet Baker, Dave Brubeck, Andre Previn, Shelly Manne, Art Pepper, The Four Brothers, Stan Getz and numerous others, this double disc set acts as a fine sampler for both beginners to the form and those already well versed in the sheer brilliance of this era's West Coast Jazz sound, but please, put the air conditioning on high prior to listening to avoid breaking into a sweat!