birth of the cool

photograph by mary ellen mark. capitol CDP 94550. A jazz standard from the saintly Miles Davis. “Birth Of The Cool” predates the best of Miles by a good decade or so, in my opinion, but this is – as they say – ‘dope’. Recorded from a session in NYC on March 9th, 1950, with J.J.

jackson pollock

jackson pollock‘s lavender mist: number 1, 1950. I first saw lavender mist in the flesh at the Tate Gallery, London when I was fifteen years old and trying hard to put together a portfolio good enough to get into Art School. The magazine and fine art prints I had seen of Pollock’s work before then