Overview
As bop continued to evolve, so, too, did the styles and tastes of musicians. While some musicians looked back to more traditional styles of jazz, others continued to explore the new possibilities of modern jazz. This section covers the birth of a new style labeled cool jazz, whose practitioners cultivated a variety of approaches and sounds, even though they all leaned toward an aesthetic of emotional restraint and understatement. We will learn how Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Bob Brookmeyer, Stan Kenton, Lennie Tristano, Stan Getz, and Gerry Mulligan contributed to the beginnings of Cool Jazz.
Objectives
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to do the following:
- Identify notable musicians who contributed to cool jazz
- Understand how cool jazz evolved
- Recognize the related style of West Coast jazz
- Appreciate the Modern Jazz Quartet’s role in pioneering third-stream jazz
Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond
One notable current of West Coast jazzA style of cool jazz that originated, in part, among musicians who played in Los Angeles in the 1950s. came from the pairing of pianist Dave Brubeck (b. 1920) and alto saxophonist Paul Desmond (1924-1977). Their most successful collaboration dates from their work in the '50s in the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
In contrast to the linear style of Bud Powell, Brubeck's orientation at the keyboard was more harmonic. In other words, Brubeck's playing emphasized chords over single melodic lines. His classical studies in composition contributed to the complex harmonic and rhythmic characteristics of his music.
Paul Desmond's melodious style on alto sax similarly ran counter to the bop paradigm established by Charlie Parker. Desmond, like Brubeck, was classically trained, and he evinced a similar interest in rhythmic exploration. The Quartet's most popular piece was a Desmond tune from the 1959 album Time Out entitled Take Five ♫, which sustains the irregular meter of 5/4 — that is, five beats to the measure — which may be counted as 3 + 2; that is, "One, two, three, One, two."
A piece in 5/4 meter does not sound strange, but in a real sense it requires greater attention to follow it. Brubeck helps us, though, with a one-bar accompaniment pattern that serves as an introductory vamp and continues to be heard through both A sections of a 24-bar ternary form (ABA) — which takes shape after a 12-bar introduction (0:21). It's a catchy tune, and Desmond delivers it with his characteristic silky legatoIn a smooth, flowing manner, without breaks—as opposed to staccato. . A Desmond solo follows over Brubeck's A-section vamp for the next 26 bars (1:04-1:50). Remarkably, Brubeck keeps the piano vamp going for the next two-and-a-half minutes to underlie Joe Morello's extended drum solo. In fact, the one-bar accompaniment pattern is broken only once more, during the B section of the final chorus (4:21-5:03).
Listen now to the Dave Brubeck Quartet perform Take Five ♫.
Miles Davis made his television acting debut when he appeared in an episode of Miami Vice where he played a pimp named Ivory Jones.
