Cool jazz
| Cool jazz | |
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| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | 1940s |
| Typical instruments |
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| Derivative forms | Post-rock |
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| Other topics | |
| West Coast jazz | |
Cool jazz is a style of modern jazz music that arose in the United States after World War II. It is characterized by relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the tense and complex bebop style. Cool jazz often employs formal arrangements and incorporates elements of classical music. Broadly, the genre refers to a number of post-war jazz styles employing a more subdued approach than that found in other contemporaneous jazz idioms. As Paul Tanner, Maurice Gerow, and David Megill suggest "the tonal sonorities of these conservative players could be compared to pastel colors, while the solos of [Dizzy] Gillespie and his followers could be compared to fiery red colors."
The term cool started being applied to this music around 1953, when Capitol Records released the album Classics in Jazz: Cool and Quiet. Mark C. Gridley, writing in the All Music Guide to Jazz, identifies four overlapping sub-categories of cool jazz:
Ted Gioia and Lee Konitz have each identified cornetist Bix Beiderbecke and saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer as early progenitors of the cool aesthetic in jazz. Gioia cites Beiderbecke's softening of jazz's strong rhythmic impact in favor of maintaining melodic flow, while also employing complex techniques such as unusual harmonies and whole tone scales. Trumbauer, through "his smooth and seemingly effortless saxophone work," greatly affected tenor saxophonist Lester Young, who prefigured – and influenced – cool jazz more than any other musician.
Young's saxophone playing employed a light sound, in contrast to the "full-bodied" approach of players such as Coleman Hawkins. Young also had a tendency to play behind the beat, instead of driving it. He more strongly emphasized melodic development in his improvisation, rather than "hot" phrases or chord changes. While Young's style initially alienated some observers, the cool school embraced it. (Young would also influence bebop through Charlie Parker's emulation of Young's playing style.) Tanner, Gerow, and Megill point out that "cool developed gradually, as did previous styles." In addition to Lester Young's approach, cool had other antecedents:
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