The CAPA High School saxophone ensemble, with special guest and trumpeter James Moore, will present Miles Davis' "Birth of the Cool" tonight.

Nate Guidry, Post-Gazette Bassist Miles Jackson and members of the CAPA saxophone ensemble rehearse for tonight's concert, which will feature Miles Davis' "Birth of the Cool." James Moore, director of bands and trumpet professor at West Virginia Wesleyan College, will also perform with the ensemble Click photo for larger image. CAPA High School Saxophone Ensemble What: Performance of Miles Davis' "Birth of the Cool," with special guest trumpeter James Moore. Where: CAPA's Black Box Theatre, Ninth Street and Fort Duquesne Boulevard. When: 7 tonight. Admission: Free.

Davis' landmark album, recorded with his nonet in 1948 and '49, features 12 songs that the students will be performing.

Bassist Paul Thompson, who teaches at CAPA and directs the saxophone ensemble, said he was able to get the arrangements and thought it would be a great opportunity for his students.

"I actually thought it would be less work for me," said Thompson, who is the former bassist in the late Stanley Turrentine's band. "After we played a few charts, I thought maybe we can play the entire album. I presented the idea to the kids and they loved it."

At that point, Thompson said he approached trumpeter Moore about the project.

"I went to James and I gave him the choice," continued Thompson. "I said we can do this with the jazz band or the saxophone ensemble and James said he'd like to do it with the sax ensemble."

At that point, Thompson secured all 12 charts from a scorebook written by Hal Leonard.

"Some of stuff in the book was wrong so I had to rewrite some of the parts," continued Thompson. "It was scored for trumpet, alto, baritone, French horn, tuba and trombone, so I had to rescore it for two altos, two tenors, baritone and soprano."

Thompson also had to make sure none of the parts were out of the range of the saxophones.

But why Miles Davis and particularly "Birth of the Cool"?

Thompson said the decision to perform music of the recording was more about his admiration for Gil Evans than his love for Davis.

"I'm a Gil Evans fanatic," said Thompson. "Everything I can get my hands on from Gil I try to get. His arrangements are unbelievable. When we started working on the arrangements, I was under the assumption that Evans had written most of them. But he only did 'Boplicity' and 'Moon Dreams' and everything else was written by John Lewis, John Carisi and Gerry Mulligan."

Nate Guidry, Post-Gazette Alto saxophonist Tya Sluss and bassist Miles Jackson play the Davis piece, which includes 12 songs. Click photo for larger image.

Thompson said he presented the music to the students one chart at a time.

"After we go into the music, they all went out and bought the entire album," said Thompson. "They became so familiar with the music that every new song from the album I presented them with was not new. It went from just being material for them to practice to music that they have actually lived with. That's exciting for me because as the director, I give them direction on dynamics, expression and playing in tune, but they've listened to the album and have the vibe down."

Thompson said the students in the ensemble range from freshmen to seniors and have different talent levels.

"We have players that are beginners and some that are advanced but they all love the music," said Thompson. "My theory as a teacher is, if you give kids crap, they are going to know that it is crap. But if you give them good music they will embrace it and run with it."

Next year, Thompson said the students will focus on the music of Oliver Nelson or Charles Mingus.