冷爵士乐（英文：Cool jazz）是1940年代博普爵士乐而发展出来的一种爵士乐形式。冷爵士乐在美国西岸地区兴起，强调整体音乐结构，不会进行过多即兴发挥，特点是表现出忧郁及压抑的情感。

在咆勃爵士乐兴盛的时候，一种衍生自咆勃爵士乐的乐风产生了，这就是酷派爵士乐（Cool Jazz）。这种音乐起始于四十年代末与五十年代早期，它结合了咆勃爵士乐的技术层面与其本身独特的音色：很少的泛音及颤音，并将之柔顺化以避免和原来风格一样有棱有角。这方面的代表人物无疑是小喇叭手Miles Davis。这种酷派爵士乐影响了很多的乐团与乐手，尤其是西海岸的乐手，因此它又称之为西海岸爵士乐（West Coast Jazz），乐手如次中音萨克斯风手Zoot Sims及Stan Getz、低音萨克斯风手Gerry Mulligan都是这种乐风的主导人物，而这种以酷派爵士乐为基础的音乐持续兴盛到五十年代。同时，在五十年代，钢琴手Dave Brubeck与中音萨克斯风手Paul Desmond也以融合了古典与酷派爵士乐风的音乐而大受欢迎。

Cool jazz is a style of modern jazz music that arose in the United States after World War II. It is characterized by relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the tense and complex bebop style. Cool jazz often employs formal arrangements and incorporates elements of classical music. Broadly, the genre refers to a number of post-war jazz styles employing a more subdued approach than that found in other contemporaneous jazz idioms. As Paul Tanner, Maurice Gerow, and David Megill suggest "the tonal sonorities of these conservative players could be compared to pastel colors, while the solos of [Dizzy] Gillespie and his followers could be compared to fiery red colors."