Out of the Cool

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Out of the Cool
Out of the Cool.jpg
Studio album by
The Gil Evans Orchestra
ReleasedFebruary 1961 (1961-02)
RecordedNovember 18 & 30, December 10 & 15, 1960
StudioVan Gelder Studio
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
GenreJazz
Length44:06
LabelImpulse!
ProducerCreed Taylor
The Gil Evans Orchestra chronology
Great Jazz Standards
(1959) 		Out of the Cool
(1961) 		Into the Hot
(1962)

Out of the Cool is a jazz album by The Gil Evans Orchestra, recorded in 1960 and released on the Impulse! label the following year. The album was one of Impulse!'s first four albums, released together, and featured a gatefold design and high production values.[1]:237

Background[]

Gil Evans recorded the album a short time after completing a six-week job at the Jazz Gallery club in New York City; the personnel was largely the same, with Elvin Jones being added.[1]:235–6

Music[]

The first track, "La Nevada", was also recorded by Evans less than two years earlier for the album Great Jazz Standards; the version for Out of the Cool is given a consistent rhythmic structure by Elvin Jones playing shakers, giving the rest of the band greater freedom and leading to a less boppish version than the earlier recording.[1]:236–7 "Where Flamingos Fly" has a melody stated by trombonist Jimmy Knepper, and uses an earlier Evans arrangement done for vocalist Helen Merrill[1]:237 The music on this album was part of a move by Evans towards greater freedom in his compositions and arrangements, this "new work integrated the written and improvised, at times allowing the balance to shift imperceptibly".[1]:238

Reception[]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic4/5 stars[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide5/5 stars[3]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music5/5 stars[4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings4/4 stars[5]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection", calling it "Evans' masterpiece under his own name and one of the best examples of jazz orchestration since the early Ellington bands".[5] After the album was re-issued in 2021 as part of Impulse!'s sixtieth anniversary celebrations,[6] it entered the Billboard Jazz Albums Chart at No. 11.[7]

Track listing[]

  1. "La Nevada" (Gil Evans) – 15:38
  2. "Where Flamingos Fly" (Elthea Peale, Harold Courlander, John Benson Brooks) – 5:14
  3. "Bilbao Song" (Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill) – 4:13
  4. "Stratusphunk" (George Russell) – 8:04
  5. "Sunken Treasure" (Evans) – 4:16
  6. "Sister Sadie" (Horace Silver) – 6:57 (CD bonus track, not on original LP)

Tracks 2, 4 and 5 recorded on November 18 and 30, 1960; the remainder on December 10 and 15, 1960.

Personnel[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Stein Crease, Stephanie (2003), Gil Evans: Out of the Cool: His Life and Music, Chicago Review Press.
  2. ^ Jurek, Tom. "Review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
  3. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 74. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  4. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006). "Gil Evans". The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th ed.). New York: Penguin. pp. 424. ISBN 0-14-102327-9.
  6. ^ Smotroff, Mark (May 18, 2021). "Exploring Gil Evans' Out of the Cool, New Impulse Records Acoustic Sounds 60th Anniversary Reissue". Audiophile Review. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  7. ^ "Jazz Albums Chart". Billboard. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
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