Miles Davis released his groundbreaking platter Birth of the Cool in 1957. He was referring to jazz, but he could have just as easily been talking about television.

Because just as cool jazz was blossoming as a dominant force in popular music, so too were hip detectives, cowboys and comedians turning up on TV. Characters like Perry Mason and Peter Gunn dressed in sharp suits and drove even more beautiful automobiles. Some shows from that era even had a jazzy soundtrack.

Everything was so cool, it can be hard to tell it apart.

We gathered some classic jazz albums and some black-and-white TV shows from the 1950s. We're talking seminal albums recorded by titans of music — no LP on this list is a deep cut. Some of the TV shows? Well, that's a different matter. See if you can sort them out!