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Cool jazz is a type of jazz that reintroduced some of the calmer elements of swing onto the framework of bop. “Cool” describes an approach to making music more than an actual musical idiom. Many of the leaders of this style were session players working in Los Angeles and the music is sometimes called “West Coast Jazz” because of this. The style was played on both coasts and was certainly not limited to California, however.
In cool jazz, soloists played improvisational lines that were more restrained than their “hot” bop counterparts; dissonances were downplayed and the tone was softer. Cool also integrates more aspects the European classical tradition than some other types of jazz. Arrangements became more important compared the relative improvisational freedom of bop. Some notable cool jazz was strongly influenced by Brazilian and other world music. The best cool jazz was both daring and unassuming, however the music was sometimes overarranged and uninventive and by the late fifties it had already begun to wane in popularity.
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