Search - Dizzy Gillespie :: The Cool World

Superb

L. Soren | 06/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an original jazz soundtrack to the 1960's film, The Cool World. The film follows the life of a youth in Harlem and his struggles with gangs, drugs, and so forth. Very gritty urban stuff.



This one of those rare soundtrack albums that stands on its own. The album has its heavy moments, full of tension and violence -- but there are also beautiful tender moments as well. Dizzy's playing is incredible on all tracks. Because it was written for a film the album has certain themes which are repeated now and then. Also -probably because it was written for a film - it does not meander at all, the songs are tight and focused.



The album was out of print for the longest time so it's good to see it back."

EXCELLENT

William R. Nicholas | Mahwah, NJ USA | 06/08/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In a sense 1964's Cool World soundtrack is a return to more straightforward forms. Dizzy Gillespie had been experimenting with big band and Latin, He worked with arrangers such as Lalo Shriffrin, who is on 1961s An Electrifying Evening With Dizzy Gillespie



Cool World is not the bop that Gillespie invented in the 1940s with Charlie Parker, but it does return to blues and fast, straight tempos.



This does not mean the head-blow-head of twenty years earlier. Cool World is music of nuance, featuring tempo changes, and extreme control of dynamics by Dizzy. Be it a fast run or a slow blues, each piece here maximizes mood: sadness, panic, fear. Honest representations for a film about race and poverty circa 1964.



A lot of this music is in the same key though the textures and melodies and tempos vary. Gillespie is able to create an album unified enough to work as a film score, but daring enough to be musically stirring and unpredictable. Cool World works off both simple and complex permutations of the blues, and the range of sounds Gillespie twists and wrings from the music is amazing.



And extremely visual: I am not saying handed a CD labeled "Diz" and told nothing else would evoke the images on the cover, but look and listen and the fit is perfect. Once matched, this music will forever bring its visuals fourth.





Nicholas Free Form Super Sandwich, recooking the context of genre



Dizzy Gillespie--Theme From Cool World

Black Cat Bones-Save my Love For You

Laura Nyro--Lucky



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