Verve
1964
The Cool World
About This Album
Finally available again after a 30-plus year absence from American shelves is the soundtrack to Shirley Clarke's gritty but brilliant 1964 film, Cool World, about young people growing up in Harlem. The score was written and arranged by pianist Mal Waldron but was performed and recorded by Dizzy Gillespie's quintet of the time. This set is one of Diz's best records of the 1960s (which is saying something), and one of the best jazz film scores period. Diz's band at the time included James Moody on tenor and flute, a young Kenny Barron on piano, bassist Chris White, and Rudy Collins on drums. The 11 cues that range between two and five minutes are deeply rooted in the language of hard bop and blues with some excellent, if brief, modal touches by Waldron. The opening theme, the set's longest cut, sets out all the tropes the quintet will visit over and again; lean, tough, expressive blues. Barron's piano sets out a fast, hard swinging groove that sets a pace for the cut time, skittering snare, and frenetic bassline; they urge the two horn players to wail the head and they do. The three solos are as intense and popping as anything on Blue Note at the time, and offer a portal into the rest of the set.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.