Zoot Sims Lover Man Zoot Sims on The West Coast 1954

Norman Granz's idea to match Zoot Sims' lyrical, swinging tenor sax with Johnny Mandel's equally arresting compositions was a masterful one. Sims' tart, alternately lush and furious solos were wonderfully spotlighted on such tunes as "Cinnamon and Cloves," "Emily" and "Zoot." The six-tune session also contains effective piano solos from Mike Wofford. The date's tour-de-force was its final selection, the wonderful "Low Life," which Sims probed, illuminated and ultimately redefined via his solo.

A natural extension of Tadd Dameron's concept of bop arranging for big band (and big band arranging for small group), this album features one of Dameron's compositions ("Lady Bird"), along with a handful of standards: a Miles Davis original and eight Mulligan compositions that truly represent the West Coast style in both sound and spirit. A young but exciting Chet Baker is heard throughout on trumpet; other West Coast notables include Bud Shank, Pete Candoli, and Chico Hamilton, and the entire ensemble performs admirably. For those interested in the '50s West Coast scene, or new fans looking for quintessential Gerry Mulligan, look no further than Tentet and Quartet.

Shelly Manne's second "workshop" 10" LP is even more advanced than his first, at times reaching outside the West Coast cool jazz idiom toward contemporary classical music - with no cover tunes this time. Where the first album was centered on a sax ensemble, Vol. 2 is devoted to a four-man brass group - with Russ Freeman or Marty Paich on piano and Joe Mondragon on bass - and this seems to have unleashed a wilder surge of creative freedom among Manne's six arrangers/composers. Indeed, some pieces virtually abandon jazz altogether. Bill Holman's "Lullaby" amounts to a gentle, free-flowing etude for brass and mallets, and Jimmy Giuffre's "Alternation" has no apparent key signature or steady pulse, a series of abstract proclamations colored by percussive effects…

Curtis Mosby and Henry Starr - Recorded On The West Coast And London, 1924-1939 (1996) {Jazz Oracle BDW8003}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 286 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 170 Mb
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© 1924-39, 1996 Jazz Oracle | BDW 8003
Jazz / Early Jazz

Most of this CD is the complete output by Curtis Mosby & His Dixieland Blue Blowers, one of the top jazz bands active in Los Angeles in the 1920s. Although the soundtrack from its appearance in the 1929 movie Hallelujah is not here, this disc has the first-time release of two numbers from a scratchy 1924 test pressing. Otherwise, the eight selections and four alternate takes from 1927-1929 are full of spirit and strong musicianship, with highlights including "Weary Stomp," "Whoop 'Em Up Blues," "Blue Blower's Blues," "Hardee Stomp," and three versions of "Tiger Stomp."