Marcus Shelby New Orchestra

The Marcus Shelby New Orchestra takes on one of the most pivotal albums in jazz history with Birth of the Cool Revisited, reimagining the era-defining music that Miles Davis and his nonet recorded in 1949 and 1950. Released by Capitol Records in 1957, the original album emerged from informal jam sessions in arranger Gil Evans' apartment and helped establish the "cool jazz" movement with its layered sonorities and lyrical approaches that moved away from bebop's high energy.

Bassist, composer, and bandleader Marcus Shelby leads his 15-piece ensemble through these influential compositions, including classics like "Boplicity" and "Jeru." Shelby, a Charles Mingus Scholarship recipient and Cal Arts graduate who studied with Charlie Haden, brings his expertise in large-scale works focused on African American history to bear on this jazz milestone. Since founding his orchestra in 1999, he has created major suites including "Port Chicago" and "Soul of the Movement," and his approach to conducting is notably physical and energetic — DownBeat describes him as "jumping, dancing and waving his arms to inspire the band."

Expect to hear the sophisticated harmonic language that made the original album so influential, featuring the complex voicings and European impressionist influences that Gil Evans and his collaborators brought to jazz. The nonet format that Davis pioneered with musicians like Lee Konitz, Gerry Mulligan, J.J. Johnson, and Max Roach created a middle ground between small combo intimacy and big band power — a balance that Shelby's New Orchestra is uniquely positioned to explore.

This performance celebrates the Miles Davis centennial while showcasing Shelby's talent for "illuminating history through jazz" (San Francisco Chronicle). His conducting style transforms the concert hall into a space of communal joy and musical storytelling, where the rhythm section provides what Backstage Bay Area calls "a flexible, propulsive foundation" that lets the ensemble "breathe as a single organism."