(BRICK, NJ) -- Jazz musician Miles Davis is remembered as an iconic figure, as complex as he is influential. Learn about his life and career during “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool,” a program honoring Black History Month, at the Brick Branch of the Ocean County Library on Saturday, February 28, 2026. The event begins at 2:30pm.
Miles Davis’s 1959 album Kind of Blue is the highest selling jazz album of all time, achieving 5x platinum status. The album also features jazz legends John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley on saxophones, Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums. However, Davis’s personal life during this time was turbulent, as he faced heroin addiction, a series of unsuccessful marriages, pimping, and criticism of his work.
Presenter Rick Feingold will explore this era of his life, featuring music from other classic Davis albums, including Birth of the Cool, Porgy and Bess, Sketches of Spain, and more. Feingold programmed the jazz music series as marketing director at the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State University. He also teaches American history at Bergen County College.
This program is presented through the generosity of the Brick Friends of the Library.
Registration is required for this free program. To register, visit tinyurl.com/MilesBrick, call 732-477-4513, or visit the branch at 301 Chambers Bridge Road.
