West Coast Live

One of the most infamously acrimonious musical unions transpired between two of the leading purveyors of West Coast cool jazz: Chet Baker (trumpet) and Stan Getz (tenor sax). Their paths crossed only a handful of times and West Coast Live captures two of their earliest encounters in Los Angeles at the Haig on June 12, 1953, and the Tiffany Club on August 17, 1953. These recordings have been issued in Europe and Japan ad infinitum in varying degrees of quality, completeness, and often sporting erroneous data. However, enthusiasts should note that West Coast Live is the only release derived from producer/engineer Dick Bock's own master reels. For two men who purportedly would rather not be in the same room at the same time, Baker and Getz are able to create some legitimately brilliant improvisation. For the Haig set, Getz had been brought in to co-lead a quartet with Baker for an incarcerated Gerry Mulligan.

A little less than eight years after it occurred, Concord Records issued this concert, originally broadcast on German radio, from Gerry Mulligan's last European tour, performed less than a year before his death. Mulligan appears with his regular band of the time – pianist Ted Rosenthal, bassist Dean Johnson, and drummer Ron Vincent – playing a group of originals that serve as springboards for his lyrical style of baritone saxophone playing. The group, which had been together for several years at this point, plays smoothly, offering excellent support to the leader. A special treat is the final track, a version of "These Foolish Things" on which Mulligan duets with guest star Dave Brubeck. The album demonstrates that, in his maturity, Mulligan continued to live up to the standards he had set for himself across a career stretching back 45 years. There are no real revelations this late in the game, but Mulligan and the band play with the assurance of veterans.

Veteran tenor Flip Phillips is heard leading a jam session during what was dubbed the 1986 Floating Jazz Festival since the music took place on the S.S. Norway somewhere in the Caribbean Sea. Phillips and his fellow tenors Buddy Tate, Al Cohn and Scott Hamilton (along with pianst John Bunch, guitarist Chris Flory, bassist Major Holley and drummer Chuck Riggs) clearly had a good time stretching out on the five pieces (which all sport fairly basic chord changes); fluegelhornist Clark Terry dropped by and joins in on three of the pieces. Unfortunately the liner notes do not tell who solos when but veteran collectors should be able to tell the tenors apart. The only minus to this CD is a surprisingly boring monologue by Phillips (one of Chiaroscuro's few unsuccessful "Jazzspeaks") at the conclusion of this disc. However his nine minutes of talking is preceded by 64 minutes of hot jamming, making this CD easily recommended to fans of Jazz at the Philharmonic and straightahead jazz.

The Dave Brubeck Quartet was always a popular addition to the many internationally famous Jazz Musicians who appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival. Over time Brubeck made a number of appearances and These recordings date from concerts which were performed in front of a rapturous audiences in Freebody Park, Newport, Rhode Island on the 17th July 1955, 3rd of July 1958, 5th July 1959 and 7th July 1963. In the 1950s Brubeck was considered the darling of the “Cocktail Set” and no soiree was deemed complete without a background of his innovative interpretations of topical jazz themes and time signatures as evidenced in his most popular recording “Take Five”.

In 1998, Columbia reissued a bunch of CDs by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, often adding one or two previously unissued selections to the sets. Buried Treasures: Recorded Live in Mexico City, however, is something different, for none of the music had been out before. Recorded live in 1967 during a tour of Mexico that also resulted in the album Bravo! Brubeck!, the set features the classic Brubeck Quartet (with altoist Paul Desmond, bassist Eugene Wright and drummer Joe Morello) performing seven selections they had previously recorded, which was probably why this particular music stayed in the vaults for decades. The quality is certainly quite high, with Brubeck and Desmond really digging into such songs as "Koto Song" (coming up with some inspired ideas over its vamp), "You Go to My Head," a lengthy "St. Louis Blues," and a fairly concise version of "Take Five," one of the few versions by Brubeck of the hit song that does not have a drum solo. Suffice to say, Dave Brubeck fans only need to be notified of two things: they do not already own this music, and the Quartet is heard throughout in prime form. Recommended.

The Dave Brubeck Quartet suddenly became a Trio for this Vienna concert when, after the previous evening's concert in Hamburg, Paul Desmond went out and never made his plane to Austria. While Paul's lyricism was missed, Dave, Gene, and Joe's playing was incredibly strong, high energy & swinging. To the Brubeck family's knowledge, this is the only recording of Dave, Gene & Joe as a Trio.

Back in the late 1960s, Solid State put out four LPs in their series Jazz for a Sunday Afternoon. The five titles with Dizzy Gillespie have been more recently reissued on a two-CD Blue Note set titled Live at the Village Vanguard. Laserlight improves upon the packaging by including two additional titles (from Vol. 3) on their first two CDs; unfortunately, the two lengthy songs ("Satin Doll" and "Straight No Chaser") from a Harry "Sweets" Edison date that comprised Vol. 4 remain out of print. The first disc of this three-CD set has a very interesting, if sometimes erratic date matching Gillespie with violinist Ray Nance (sometimes replaced by trombonist Garnett Brown), baritonist Pepper Adams, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Richard Davis, and either Mel Lewis or Elvin Jones on drums. Nance's violin playing is adventurous and eccentric, and there are some loose moments, but Dizzy holds the music together and Pepper Adams is in top form.

Shelly Manne & His Men - West Coast Jazz In England (1960) {Solar Records 4569886 rel 2011}
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© 1960, 2011 Solar Records | 4569886
Jazz / Bop / Cool / West Coast Jazz

Digitally remastered release that contains, for the first time ever on CD, a complete live performance in Manchester by the legendary Shelly Manne quintet with Joe Gordon and Richie Kamuca. This short lived group had produced the celebrated multi-volume albums at the Blackhawk, in San Francisco, the previous year (with Victor Feldman on piano instead of Russ Freeman), as well as celebrated recordings of Henry Mancini's Peter Gunn music. The Manchester concert, which was only previously released on an extremely rare long out of print LP, showcases the quintet in high spirits, and offers a new opportunity to appreciate the talents of trumpeter Joe Gordon, who would die soon after.