The subtitle of this album, "Birth of the New Cool," was meant to call attention to the similarity in instrumentation between this band and the legendary Miles Davis Nonet; but the Sonny Criss Orchestra has a style all its own. The compositions and arrangements of Horace Tapscott are bold, highly rhythmic, and a passionate match for the intense leader, who played soprano on record for the first time as well as his customary alto. The music reveals Tapscott as a first-rank musician i… MORE