I think I have found a definitive definition of cool, the way the main character in Wages of Fear lights his matches, unfortunately this is all completely undermined by the wearing of his vest.

Last edited by Oo Bop Sh'bam (2012-01-12 12:15:56)

all quirks could be constructed as cool or as hip (two entirely different yet not unrelated words), for sure...

but getting back very straight at the topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaPIyo51cr4

just listen

Anyway, I'm clearly cool as fuck. I spend all night on the internet. Anyone I'd deem as being un-cool would be watching celebritiy Big Brother. That's how things lay in 2012.

Last edited by Oo Bop Sh'bam (2012-01-12 13:08:33)

Interesting reading there. GG and Chet pretty much had it summed up on the first couple of posts. I can't add to their knowledge really. Whatever happened to them?

Jim's line was good. ''I like 'Cool'. I like that idea of being one step back watching the show go on'' I'm 100% with that. Even though he liked the idea of it, I'm pretty sure he could mostly be pretty far from the passive observer.

In truth, if you have to go out and buy an instruction manual, or consciously research it in any way, it's a bit of a lost cause I think. People we consider 'cool' are/were often out doing their own thing. Miles was cool. You could look, dress, play and act just like him. But pastiche definitely doesn't cut it.

I imagine over the years many, many people have studied Miles (for example. Could be Elvis, Issac Hayes, Weller, McQueen?) and robbed what they could. That approach is always going to fail because if nothing else, he did it better, first. Also, even if only subconsciously, you're looking over your shoulder to make sure Miles would approve. Wrong track.

If you're main agenda is other people considering you cool, again, you're on the wrong track. Generally those icons didn't give a flying one what other people thought of them did they?

Back to the real topic there; 'Cool' in any jazz or old school sense is gone now I think. My seven year old kid and his mates swapping Pokemon cards; ''Ah you got that one. Cool man''

Last edited by Spendthrift (2022-04-26 07:02:32)

'Birth Of The Cool'.  When was that?  1949?  Does that nail it?  Probably not.

Check out chetmiles...  now he really was 'cool'...  as the proverbial cucumber... 
A slip of, a broth of, a boy.  At the time.
Older (if not wiser) and sadder now.

Yeah, a Case Study House in an Ivy wash and wear suit, sipping a cocktail, Chet on the groovy hi-fi. There's those pictures of Pierre Koenig looking, well.....cool.

Jazz: 'cool' as opposed to 'hot' (?).  Not really.  'Cool' as opposed to 'bop'?  Maybe.  Yet there was NYC cool and West Coast/California cool - all slightly difficult to recreate in a Europe (not just England) struggling with post-war difficulties.  Yet some attempted it.  And what did it amount to?  Even in the USA, ultimately, not much.  But a little Baker and Mulligan never goes amiss.

Admired, yes, certainly.  But emulated?  If the social and economic conditions aren't just right, well, where does that leave you? 
In England - in London - did much resonate beyond the walls of Ronnie Scott's? 
Going back a bit, even chaps like Condon and Wettling found England prehistoric in 1955 or thereabouts.  Many were still clinging to New Orleans. 
It was perhaps hipper in Germany, France and Sweden than in England.

Just referring back to the original post.  We were having lunch on Saturday.  Yummy-mummy nearby, blonde hair and shades, asks the waitress, 'Can I have the receipt?'  'Sure', says the waitress.  'Cool'.  Not 'Thank you very much'.  Bears out what Johnny Simons was attempting to get across. 
Then there's 'hip': straining for effect, as in that rather crappy Dellar book.  As soon as something PRONOUNCES, it's no longer what it claims to be.  If it ever was.

Agree 100% about the ugliness of “cool??  as a substitute for yes, thanks etc. and about “hip??  losing its meaning by being defined.

It so happens that our local Oxfam bookshop has a fair number of 'Hot'/New Orleans/pre-bebop CDs on offer.  Trouble is, I have to be in the right frame of mind to tackle their female staff, who generally look as if someone has just offered their daughter heroin at the school gate/brimming with 'Woke' self-importance/are enduring the 'change'.  This a.m., however, in order to cheer myself up after extracting a large sum of money from the building society for roof repairs, I splashed out £1.99 on a Bechet/Oliver disc.