The "Birth of the Cool" sessions, as they came to be known, grew out of an informal series of gatherings in the dingy 55th st (Manhattan) apartment of arranger and unsung jazz hero Gil Evans, between 1948 and 1950. Miles Davis had come to New York to study trumpet at Julliard, but he found it much more rewarding to play at the 52nd St. jazz clubs till late at night, then head on over to Gil's to play with the likes of saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, John Carisi, and the musically adventurous Gunther Schuller, an opera musician who also loved to mix classical ideas in with jazz, and who would arrange some of Miles Davis' biggest hits. Gil Evans, a mediocre pianist and former arranger for Claude Thornhill, was the musical director of the nonet that emerged from the first exchanges of ideas. The nonet, "Miles Davis and His Orchestra", played a few gigs in 1948, opening for Count Basie, but was rejected by the public. The music played in these sessions, and the "cool jazz" that followed, was a reaction against the overly virtuosic bebop styles of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and marked the return of the arranger and the composer to the jazz spotlight. And these composers weren't just sticking to the old forms, either. They broke the rules set by Henderson, Basie, and Armstrong. The rhythm section was understated, the music was full of rich, thick textures and dark sonorities, and the emphasis was back on cooperation (versus bebop, where solos dominated). Arrangers started to explore the timbral possibilities of combining many different instruments (like Fletcher Henderson), but added oboes, bassoons, and more to the mix. Instruments that had previously been relegated to the rhythm section, such as the tuba, were now being tried out as bearers of the melody.