Bud Shank R.I.P.

[Hardbopjazz]

RIP Mr. Shank.

[Drew Peacock]

I love some of the pictures in this

You will be missed! RIP Bud Edited April 4, 2009 by Drew Peacock

[carnivore]

Bud was a superb musician, a very great jazz player and, for those of us who were lucky enough to spend time with him, a warm. friendly man with a great sense of humour and a wide variety of interests outside music. He had a long and successful life, but the world seems a little bit emptier today.

[Teasing the Korean]

Love all those Brazil records on WP with Almeida, of course, and then he later ones with Clare Fischer, Joao Donato, et. al. Why aren't all of these on CD?

[king ubu]

The ones with Almeida were/are! Fine music, but a bit of a more flexible rhythm section (or drummer, it's Roy Harte) could have worked wonders, I think...

[Teasing the Korean]

The ones with Almeida were/are! Fine music, but a bit of a more flexible rhythm section (or drummer, it's Roy Harte) could have worked wonders, I think...

I realize the Braziliance stuff is available. I'm talking all those mid-60s WP bossa albums, some of which had Shank.

[John Tapscott]

Sad news! A great musician who kept developing and making fine recordings right to the end. Bud's recent recordings (including a DVD) on the Jazzed Media label are especially good. I also have his Mosaic set which I very much enjoy (especially the tenor session). But I also enjoy his alto playing - one of my favorites, for sure.

[AndrewHill]

I was just playing Jazz at Cal-Tech yesterday!!! RIP I really dug his alto/flute playing on his PJ sides I own by him, and I especially doug his partnership with Bob Cooper. Thanks for all the great music!

PJ? Pacific Jazz?

Yup.

[JSngry]

How many overt "easy listening" records did he make for WP? California Dreamin', Michelle, A Girl In Love, & what else?

[JSngry]

Magical Mystery Tour is one of the greatest psychedelic albums ever made. RIP.

I only recently came across this one, and although I don't know if I'd go that far, it was certainly not what I expected, and in a good way.

[sheldonm]

Sad news...saw him play several times. He played at a la jazz institute event last year and did a nice interview along side Candido. He was using oxygen on/off but appeared to be holding his own other than that.

m

[GA Russell]

How many overt "easy listening" records did he make for WP? California Dreamin', Michelle, A Girl In Love, & what else?

I remember one called Spooky. I remember that it was released shortly before the Classics IV's recording hit the New Orleans airwaves.

[mikeweil]

Very sad news. I dig the Brazilliance albums a lot, they were of great influence on one of the bands I played in.

A jazz life well lived. R.I.P.

Edited April 5, 2009 by mikeweil

[JSngry]

How many overt "easy listening" records did he make for WP? California Dreamin', Michelle, A Girl In Love, & what else?

I remember one called Spooky. I remember that it was released shortly before the Classics IV's recording hit the New Orleans airwaves.

I remember Let It Be, one about movie themes, and one w/Legrand, but not that one.

What about Spoonful Of Jazz, was that one straight up "easy listening" or more of a "jazz" date?

[James]

Yes, sad news. Bud's tribute to Bill Evans (with Mike Wofford, Bob Magnusson and Joe LaBarbera) still sits on my desk

after listening to it 'bout a week ago. Time to spin some more.

[Bluesnik]

oh, that's unknown news to me. i liked and still do Bud Shank a lot. i got a lot of his early PJ sessions and i like them all. especially the Bud Shank Quartet and the other SBJC issued albums. also the two that got issued by Freshsound called Bud Shank and Flutes and Bud Shank plus Bob Brookmeyer. I also have a compilation of his brazilian material.

[fomafomic65]

Very sad note.

My mind goes to his sound in Johnny Mandel's "I Want To Live" soundtrack, in "A Bag Of Blues" (track #1 cd 1) and the whole cds 3 & 4 in Mosaic's "The Complete Pacific Jazz Studio Recordings of Bud Shank", still some of the very best West Coast Jazz I ever heard, full of surprises and swing.

A great overlooked player.

Edited April 6, 2009 by ArmandoPeraza

[stevebop]

From the Los Angeles Times

OBITUARIES

Bud Shank dies at 82; alto saxophonist was immersed in West Coast jazz scene

By Jon Thurber

April 6, 2009

Bud Shank, the alto saxophonist who was a key figure in the West Coast jazz scene of the 1950s, has died. He was 82.

Shank died Thursday night at his home in Tucson of pulmonary failure, friends said.

A versatile musician with an adventurous nature, Shank also played flute and -- during a productive period of studio work -- had pivotal solos on the popular 1960s pop tunes "California Dreamin' " by the Mamas and the Papas and "Windy" by the Association. He had an early interest in music without borders, playing and recording with Brazilian guitarist Laurindo Almeida several years before the Bossa Nova craze. In 1962, he recorded an album with Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar.

For many, however, he is best known for his work in Los Angeles with Stan Kenton starting in the late 1940s, followed by his association with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars at the fabled Lighthouse Cafe jazz club in Hermosa Beach.

Born Clifford Everett Shank Jr. in Dayton, Ohio, on May 27, 1926, Shank was raised on a farm. He started playing clarinet at 10 and tenor saxophone at 12. He was a music major at the University of North Carolina but quit school to go on the road with a band that broke up after just a few weeks.

He decided to try his luck in Los Angeles instead of returning to the classroom. While rooming with a couple of other young musicians, he added flute to his repertoire, picking up lessons from a roommate who was learning from a professional instructor.

Shank was in bands led by Charlie Barnet and Alvino Rey before joining Kenton's new Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra in the early 1950s. Kenton's group featured a who's who of West Coast jazz talent, including Art Pepper, Shelly Manne, Bob Cooper, Shorty Rogers and Almeida.

Despite the talent, however, the end result was far less than it could have been. Author Ted Gioia wrote in "West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960" that the band "often sagged under the weight of Kenton's Wagnerian ambitions."

Shank also expressed mixed feelings about the group.

"That band was too clumsy to swing -- because of the instrumentation and voicings. On the other hand the sounds that came out of it were really big noises, really impressive. That's what that band was all about, making these really big noises. As far as swinging, it never did swing," Shank told jazz writer Gene Lees.

Shank joined the Lighthouse All-Stars in August 1953 and stayed with them until early January 1956.

According to jazz writer Doug Ramsey, who wrote an essay that became the booklet for the Mosaic label boxed set "The Pacific Jazz Bud Shank Studio Sessions," Shank's major contribution to the All-Stars was as a "first-rank alto player."

"But he also played flute to Bob Cooper's oboe," Ramsey said. "He and Cooper did an album playing flute and oboe, and from that point on the flute became a substantial part of his arsenal."

Shank led his own quartet from 1956 until 1963 and recorded a number of albums for the World Pacific and Pacific Jazz labels from the mid-1950s to the late '60s. He spent much of the '60s working as a studio musician for a diverse array of recordings and film scores, including the original version of "The Thomas Crown Affair," "The Sandpiper" and "The Summer of '42." He also scored the Bruce Brown surfing movies "Slippery When Wet" and "Barefoot Adventure."

In the 1970s, he, bassist Ray Brown, Almeida and a revolving cast of drummers played in the L.A. Four, which fused "cool-toned bop, Brazilian-oriented music and ballads," jazz writer Scott Yanow wrote in the "All Music Guide to Jazz." Some critics didn't know what to think of the sound and dismissed it as bland. The group recorded eight albums for Concord Records before disbanding in the early 1980s.

For much of his career, Shank believed that the musical accomplishments of the West Coast jazz era -- his own and his colleagues' -- were underappreciated. His playing over the last 30 years took on a harder-edged, more powerful sound more reminiscent of Phil Woods than Lee Konitz. He also dropped the flute and concentrated primarily on the alto sax.

His last gig in the Los Angeles area was at the Jazz Bakery in January.

Survivors include his wife, Linda. Information on services was not immediately available.

jon.thurber@latimes.com

[Teasing the Korean]

While we can debate what is or isn't an "easy listening" album, it is a mistake to lump the Legrand album into the same category as Michelle, Girl in Love, etc. All of the tunes and the arrangements are by Legrand, and it has far more depth than aforementioned easy albums. It would offer plenty of appeal to a jazz fan interested in seldom-performed tunes and colorful arrangements, even if it is not a "jazz" album from a purist's perspective. IMHO.

[ghost of miles]

Been offline since Friday night and was very sad & shocked to see this news today. Shank hooked me the first time I ever heard him (the Mosaic box) and he's a musician whose work I've continued to enjoy hearing and exploring ever since--definitely consider myself quite a fan and had held out hope of perhaps catching him in concert sometime.

[sidewinder]

Bud's tribute to Bill Evans (with Mike Wofford, Bob Magnusson and Joe LaBarbera) still sits on my desk

I'm pretty sure I saw that very lineup back in 1999. Will have to check.

[RiRiIII]

Very sad news. Some days ago I was listening to Blowin' Country w./ Bob Cooper; what a superb record!

Rest in peace.

Bud Shank died yesterday at his home in Tucson. Shank was 82.

The Seattle Jazz Scene!

[Brownian Motion]

Worth reading--

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/arts/mus...?ref=obituaries

[Matt]

Totally sad news R.I.P.

Edited April 11, 2009 by Matt

[Durium]

BUD SHANK (1926-2009)

We don't know to do anything else ( Bud Shank)

Bud Shank (1926-2009)

Keep swinging

Durium