Birth of the Cool & Art Pepper + Eleven

Two landmark suites share the bill in a programme that defines “cool”, framing ground-breaking soloists in beautifully written vessels. Scott Stroman directs the Guildhall Jazz Orchestra, and Matt Skelton directs the Guildhall Big Band.

Miles Davis’s 1949 recordings presented the results of months of undercover work by a young group of nine musicians – Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz and John Lewis among them – who met together in Gil Evans’ New York basement flat.

Collected together under the Birth of the Cool title, their influence was immense in an exciting period when new music was evolving out of the bebop era. That "cool" sound became particularly associated with the west coast, and a few years later Hollywood writer Marty Paich created another classic, assembling an all-star team of LA players to feature star saxophonist Art Pepper in his sumptuous arrangements.