Saturday, July 13, 2013

Sunny California - Birth of the Cool

My recent travels have taken me to sunny Southern California, and it seems that I drove through some of the hottest weather of the year here.  The harsh heat of the sun makes me smile to think that this was the coast that is credited with the birth of Cool Jazz.  As a kid, I grew up listening to Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond, and I learned just about every song off of every album they recorded.  I still love hearing their classic, "cool" sound.  It was an especially nice place for me to begin to learn about the Jazz idiom.  Now if I could just get a little of that coolness to moderate the high temperatures outside!