Miles Davis' "Birth of the Cool"

Orchestra 2001 presents an ENCORE PERFORMANCE of the SOLD OUT Philadelphia premiere of the mid-century fusion of jazz and classical music, “Birth of the Cool,” on Wednesday, April 19, at the Mummers Museum. Musicians, composers, and arrangers from the original nonet included Miles Davis, Gil Evans, J.J. Johnson, Gunther Schuller, Lee Konitz, John Lewis, Gerry Mulligan, and Max Roach. This performance will feature Orchestra 2001’s jazz players, including eight musicians from The Philly Pops.

These concerts take place approximately 75 years after the creation of this ground-breaking musical hybrid by leading jazz and classical artists during the late 1940s, in Gil Evans’ basement apartment, below a laundromat on West 55th Street in Manhattan. The 12 tunes resulting from that collaboration are a collector’s classic, and forged decades of new directions in concert halls, jazz clubs, and film scores.

The music has a local tie; most of the scores were thought to be lost until manuscript parts were found in cartons in a Philadelphia storage unit fifty years later, as part of Miles Davis’ estate.

Nonet rehearsal in South Philadelphia

Performers:
george rabbai – trumpet
ron kerber – alto saxophone
mark allen – baritone saxophone
john david smith – french horn
paul arbogast – trombone
brian brown – tuba
tom lawton – piano
doug mapp – bass
joe nero – drums
najwa parkins – vocal