What is cool? Who is cool? In today’s world, the word itself is such a universal part of the lexicon that “cool” has become one of the first words learned and used by children. But what does it really mean, and where does it come from?
A single moment and image bring it all into sharp focus. It’s June of 1992 and the candidacy of Bill Clinton is in trouble when he appears on the Arsenio Hall Show in Ray Ban Wayfarers, gleaming sax in hand, grinding out a serviceable rendition of Elvis Presley’s classic, “Heartbreak Hotel.” The moment is carefully designed to deliver one very important message about the candidate to the youth culture of the time: Folks, this is not George Bush, and this is not Ross Perot. Call him what you will—draft dodger, womanizer, marijuana dabbler—but in every sense of how American culture has come to define the notion, call him cool. “It’s nice to see a Democratic candidate blowing something other than an election,” quips Arsenio to the candidate, whose campaign really begins to gain traction from this moment…
Just how deeply this image is embedded in the DNA of American pop culture is made strikingly apparent by a montage of a few of the great avatars of the attitude, all in the requisite dark shades: Miles Davis, James Dean, Bob Dylan, Steve McQueen, Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood, Johnny Cash, Michael Jordan, Brad Pitt, P. Diddy, Jay-Z. All of them are remarkably different individuals, yet each one is an undeniable exemplar of the idiom...
The origins of Cool in western civilization go back to England and Beowulf and Shakespeare, to English literary metaphors that describe Cool as being about composure and lack of emotion. But as Cool develops in America, it’s really the African cultural tributaries of meaning that provide its spiritual power—and, ultimately, its controversy. If Europeans define the term as primarily the ability to remain calm under stress—as something akin to Hemingway’s famous definition of courage as “grace under pressure,” for example—“Itutu,” or “mystic coolness,” is one of three pillars of a religious philosophy created in the fifteenth century by the Yoruba and Igbo civilizations of Western Africa. Within these cultures, the sensibility of Cool contains meanings of conciliation and gentleness of character, of generosity and grace and the willingness and ability to defuse fights and disputes, as well as physical beauty.
These traditions profoundly impact the African Diaspora through the experience of slavery and beyond in America as Cool becomes an attitude and a pose for African Americans to deal with the pitfalls of discrimination, negative self-image, guilt, shame and fear. Through the culture of jazz and the singular personality of saxophonist Lester Young, it becomes nothing less than a state of being. Our story really begins right here. Prez, as he is called (the President of the Tenors) is an incandescently stylish and inventive musician deeply wounded by the racism of the time and the first to use the expression—“that’s cool, man!” Prez is the first to wear sunglasses at night. He’s the sole inventor of the lexicon of jive, coining such staple expressions as “the Big Apple” and “you dig?”
As the fashion designer Christian LaCroix rightly observes, “the history of cool in America is the history of African American culture,” and as this single musician comes to personify it, Cool is the word used to describe his light, relaxed tone, a hot riff or a lilting melody he plays, but also the way his trousers break over a particular pair of crepe-soled shoes as he indulges his predilection for sharp pinstriped suits of impeccable elegance, silk double breasted vests, and pork pie hats...
