BIRTH OF THE COOL

Though strictly speaking it's a compilation of old material, the performances on Birth of the Cool were produced in a fairly tight span of time from 1949 to 1950, so this release could also be seen as a rather delayed studio album. Tracks from here had seen single or EP releases earlier, but this is by far the easiest way to get ahold of this material, and it's actually remarkably cohesive. Here, Miles is playing in the Cool Jazz mode, which he would return to on Kind of Blue, making this an interesting port of call to explore if you liked Kind of Blue and want to explore Miles' early material. Most post-70s editions of the album tack on Darn That Dream, a vocal track which doesn't quite seem to fit the rest of the material on here (we're here to hear the man with the horn play, thanks), but even this can't quite obscure the genius of the album.