To fully understand the romance of West Coast jazz of the early 1950s, you have to walk the beaches of Hermosa, Huntington, Leguna and Redondo in California. I did that in the 1980s with a Walkman. As I walked the sand in tan Converse sneakers, I listened to home-made cassettes of Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne, Stan Kenton and Johnny Richards, among others. Only then did I realize how much Pacific Ocean in the music along with the air, the salty smell and the sound of the crashing surf. When you listen to the music and awaken your other senses along the way, the music's charm and ambition hits you.
If you won't be in California anytime soon, another way to enter the world of West Coast jazz is through recordings of Howard Rumsey and his Lighthouse All-Stars. As Howard told me during our conversation in 2009, the Lighthouse jazz club he managed in Hermosa Beach was ground zero for musicians dropping out of big bands in the early 1950s. As musicians such as Shorty Rogers, Jimmy Giuffre and Shelly Manne waited the six months to establish permanent residency for their union cards, many found work playing at the Lighthouse. With Howard on bass, different ensembles came together each night, depending on who was available. Different configurations of the All-Stars recorded starting in 1952.
A good place to start is Lighthouse All-Stars Vol. 3. This 12-inch LP was released on Contemporary Records and featured recordings that were previously released as 78 rpm singles in 1952 and on a 10-inch LP in '53. The 12-inch LP included these plus three from 1955.
The first four songs were Shorty Rogers' Swing Shift, Jimmy Giuffre's Out of Somewhere and Big Girl, and Rogers'sViva Zapata! All were recorded in June 1952, with Rogers (tp); Milt Bernhart (tb); Giuffre and Bob Cooper (ts); Frank Patchen (p); Rumsey (b); Shelly Manne (d) and Carlos Vidal (cga).
The next four are Rogers's Mambo Los Feliz, Bob Cooper's Jazz Invention and Witch Doctor and Love Letters from October 1953. The All-Stars here were Rolf Ericson (tp); Milt Bernhart (tb); Herb Geller (as); Cooper (ts); Bud Shank (bar); Claude Williamson (p); Rumsey (b); Max Roach (d) and Jack Costanzo (bgo).
The final three are Bob Cooper and Bud Shank's Mexican Passport, The Song Is You and Cooper's Snap the Whip from August 1955, with Frank Rosolino (tb); Cooper (oboe,ts); Bud Shank (as,fl); Claude Williamson (p); Rumsey (b) and Stan Levey (d).
As you can see, you get a nice cross-section of these Lighthouse groups on this album. Of particular note is Out of Somewhere, Jazz Invention, Mexican Passport and Snap the Whip. As pretty as can be. These guys were top notch and hungry. You can hear it in every composition and arrangement. Before you get back in the car, don't forget to brush the sand off your feet.
JazzWax clips: Here's the beezy Out of Somewhere, based on the chord changes to Out of Nowhere...
And here's Mexican Passport...
If you won't be in California anytime soon, another way to enter the world of West Coast jazz is through recordings of Howard Rumsey and his Lighthouse All-Stars. As Howard told me during our conversation in 2009, the Lighthouse jazz club he managed in Hermosa Beach was ground zero for musicians dropping out of big bands in the early 1950s. As musicians such as Shorty Rogers, Jimmy Giuffre and Shelly Manne waited the six months to establish permanent residency for their union cards, many found work playing at the Lighthouse. With Howard on bass, different ensembles came together each night, depending on who was available. Different configurations of the All-Stars recorded starting in 1952.
A good place to start is Lighthouse All-Stars Vol. 3. This 12-inch LP was released on Contemporary Records and featured recordings that were previously released as 78 rpm singles in 1952 and on a 10-inch LP in '53. The 12-inch LP included these plus three from 1955.
The first four songs were Shorty Rogers' Swing Shift, Jimmy Giuffre's Out of Somewhere and Big Girl, and Rogers'sViva Zapata! All were recorded in June 1952, with Rogers (tp); Milt Bernhart (tb); Giuffre and Bob Cooper (ts); Frank Patchen (p); Rumsey (b); Shelly Manne (d) and Carlos Vidal (cga).
The next four are Rogers's Mambo Los Feliz, Bob Cooper's Jazz Invention and Witch Doctor and Love Letters from October 1953. The All-Stars here were Rolf Ericson (tp); Milt Bernhart (tb); Herb Geller (as); Cooper (ts); Bud Shank (bar); Claude Williamson (p); Rumsey (b); Max Roach (d) and Jack Costanzo (bgo).
The final three are Bob Cooper and Bud Shank's Mexican Passport, The Song Is You and Cooper's Snap the Whip from August 1955, with Frank Rosolino (tb); Cooper (oboe,ts); Bud Shank (as,fl); Claude Williamson (p); Rumsey (b) and Stan Levey (d).
As you can see, you get a nice cross-section of these Lighthouse groups on this album. Of particular note is Out of Somewhere, Jazz Invention, Mexican Passport and Snap the Whip. As pretty as can be. These guys were top notch and hungry. You can hear it in every composition and arrangement. Before you get back in the car, don't forget to brush the sand off your feet.
JazzWax clips: Here's the beezy Out of Somewhere, based on the chord changes to Out of Nowhere...
And here's Mexican Passport...
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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