Feeling the limitations of the jazz combo format that was prevalent in the late 1940s, Miles Davis assembled a nonet to play music that allowed for more orchestration and color, while still maintaining the improvisational elements of that era's be-bop sound. With orchestrations from the great arranger Gil Evans, as well as band members Gerry Mulligan and John Lewis, the band performed briefly in the fall of 1948. But it wasn't until 1949 that the group entered the studio to record what would become Birth of the Cool, a seminal recording that kicked off a movement that became known as "cool jazz." more ›