Piece Description

Cool school
For many decades jazz was an arbiter of cool in 20th-century American culture. And while it's never been cool to talk about coolness (true cool subscribes very much to the Taoist edict that "those who know do not speak"), certain artists, albums and movements have become such iconic talismans of cool that a prominent jazz historian has now written a book about them.

Ted Gioia, author of The History of Jazz and West Coast Jazz, argues in his new book The Birth (and Death) of the Cool that what many think of as "cool"-the attitude, sound, look, and way of life-came about in large part because of jazz, and that the notion of cool has now been co-opted and commodified in a way that's nearly drained the term of its meaning.

Gioia joins us on this edition of Night Lights to talk about the influence of jazz artists on notions of cool, as well as other cultural figures and forces such as DJ Symphony Sid Torin, novelist Jack Kerouac, and the Blue Note record label that helped shape the birth of the cool in the mid-20th century.

Artists heard and discussed on the program:

• Cornetist Bix Beiderbecke
• Saxophonist Lester Young
• Bandleader and composer Duke Ellington
• Saxophonist Charlie Parker
• Trumpeter Miles Davis
• Saxophonist Gerry Mulligan
• Trumpeter Chet Baker
• Pianist Thelonious Monk
• Saxophonist Ornette Coleman
• Pianist Vince Guaraldi
• Drummer Shelly Manne