This double CD 60 track compilation is an overview of rock 'n' roll from the west coast of America. As is the norm with such releases from Fantastic Voyage, the selection of tracks ranges from well known classics such as Eddie Cochran's 'Twenty Flight Rock', Gene Vincent's 'Lotta Lovin', 'The Worryin' Kind' by Tommy Sands and 'La Bamba' by Ritchie Valens through popular selections like Bob Luman's…
California experienced a phenomenal growth in independent recording in the postwar years, after decades of dominance by the major labels. Millions had flocked there during the war years and they needed entertainment.
The superb compilation West Coast 1945-1947 brings together various studio and live radio broadcasts from bop jazz trumpeter Howard McGhee. Born in Tulsa and raised in Detroit, McGhee was a powerhouse bop trumpeter in the vein of Fats Navarro and Dizzy Gillespie. He was also a melodicist, which meant that he was capable of soloing with both dazzling technical proficiency and gorgeous romantic lyricism. One of the few bop musicians to relocate to California during the '40s, McGhee even backed Charlie Parker on some Dial sessions during the saxophonist's West Coast tour at about the same time he made the recordings featured here.
The mainstream came to know this remarkable tenor sax player via bossa nova – his unforgettable, breathy solo on "The Girl from Ipanema" propelled the song to number five in 1964 and to continued popularity to this very day, every bit as much as Astrud Gilberto's equally stunning, spare voice. But Stan Getz's involvement in this populist '60s craze actually displeased many a serious jazz enthusiast who'd admired his work in that field for more than two decades. After all, this 17-time winner of the Down Beat poll for top tenor saxophonist had already staked out a remarkable reputation, playing in the bands of such vaunted names as Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and Woody Herman from 1944-1949, and then leading his own bands thereafter. This three-CD box, then, finds Getz in top form as a jazz soloist and bandleader.