West Coast Jazz Recommendations

[J.A.W.]

  Teasing the Korean said:

I think our comrade who started the thread is really looking for West Coast things that are "representative of that style." It sounds like he has lots of hard bop already. While there are some hard-bopping West Coasters who challenge the stereotype, I'm not sure that's really what he's seeking. Still, lots of good suggestions so far.

I think you're right, he's looking for "West Coast Cool", not hard bop.

[Dave Garrett]

  Big Beat Steve said:

Speaking of box sets, may I give a big plug for

THE COMPLETE NOCTURNE RECORDINGS - Jazz in Hollywood Series

(3-CD box set Fresh Sound NR3CD101 - and NO, lest someone come up with the worn-out "Andorran thieves" argument again: NOPE, this set was endorsed fully by Nocturne co-founder Harry Babasin!)

Unfortunately, this one's out of print now and tends to be expensive. I kept meaning to pick it up, but there always seemed to be other priorities, until it was too late.

[Joe]

3 recommended OJCs in this "cooler" vein:

Paul Horn, SOMETHING BLUE

PRESENTING RED MITCHELL (w/ Lorraine Geller, James Clay and Billy Higgins)

MUSIC TO LISTEN TO RED NORVO BY

PS -- for something a bit warmer, check out the Conte Candoli Quintet dates with Bill Holman (POWERHOUSE TRUMPET and WEST COAST WAILERS)

[gmonahan]

"Coop" by Bob Cooper is a good one. Just about anything by Shorty Rogers will work, but my favorites tend to be the Howard Rumsey Lighthouse sessions on Contemporary. Lots of classic West Coast there.

greg mo

[JohnS]

Ted Gioia's book West Coast Jazz is well worth reading. Imo one of the very best jazz books and one that will give you loads of ideas.

[Big Beat Steve]

  Teasing the Korean said:

I think our comrade who started the thread is really looking for West Coast things that are "representative of that style." It sounds like he has lots of hard bop already. While there are some hard-bopping West Coasters who challenge the stereotype, I'm not sure that's really what he's seeking. Still, lots of good suggestions so far.

Which is why wrote the above re- sjarrell's recommendations.

Glad to see I am not the only one who is interpreting the thread that way.

And to push things a bit further along those lines, if you want to look a bit beyond the Pacific Jazz and Contemporary labels (where there's a lot to discover, of course), try to check out the MODE label catalog (much of it reissued by VSOP or in Japan) or the Liberty "Jazz In Hollywood" series (only part of it actually was taken over from Nocturne). Some of my personal favorites from that Liberty series are the two Buddy Childers LPs ("Sam Songs" and "Quartet") but I don't know which would be the most easily accessible recent reissues.

Edited October 6, 2009 by Big Beat Steve

[Niko]

  JohnS said:

Ted Gioia's book West Coast Jazz is well worth reading. Imo one of the very best jazz books and one that will give you loads of ideas.

one of my favorite jazz books as well (though i have to warn, it does have a slightly broader perspective )

the vsop catalogue can be streamed here btw

[Cliff Englewood]

I'd say anything with Bill Perkins is worth checking out. He's one of my favorites.

[AllenLowe]

Mine too. Glad we can have this rare moment of fraternity, Cliff.

[king ubu]

Here's a thread on the Mode label - plenty of good releases there!

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=7006

And that Nocturne 3CD set is highly recommended!

I missed grabbing the Fantasy CDs in time, alas... there's some stuff on those that's not in the Nocturne box.

[Teasing the Korean]

  JohnS said:

Ted Gioia's book West Coast Jazz is well worth reading. Imo one of the very best jazz books and one that will give you loads of ideas.

Unless I'm not remembering, TG didn't really devote much ink to the Hollywood film scoring scene and its relation to west coast jazz. Considering that many west coasters played on film and TV soundtracks and that some of them were composers themeselves, I thought that was odd. While I haven't read anything confirming this, I have always suspected that the proximity of Hollywoood and the diversity of film music in the 1950s and 60s must have had some influence on the compositional and arranging aesthetics of west coasters.

Edited October 6, 2009 by Teasing the Korean

[JohnS]

  Teasing the Korean said:

  JohnS said:

Ted Gioia's book West Coast Jazz is well worth reading. Imo one of the very best jazz books and one that will give you loads of ideas.

Unless I'm not remembering, TG didn't really devote much ink to the Hollywood film scoring scene and its relation to west coast jazz. Considering that many west coasters played on film and TV soundtracks and that some of them were composers themeselves, I thought that was odd. While I haven't read anything confirming this, I have always suspected that the proximity of Hollywoood and that the diversity of film music in the 1950s and 60s must have had some influence on the compositional and arranging aesthetics of west coasters.

I think you are right on both counts.

[brownie]

John Graas is a rather forgotten musician these days but he recorded some of the best West Coast jazz in the '50s.

Thanks to the good people at Lonehill, his music remains preserved. Couple of highly recommended releases from them:

[Tom in RI]

I would second Brownie's rec for John Graas. I would also note that Cadence has several (all?) of the Graas issues on Lonehill for $12. My personal favorite is Jazzmantics which couples two lps, Jazzmantics and Coup de Graas. Art Pepper is well featured on this cd. Also present are Pete and Conte Candoli, Bob Cooper, Buddy Collette, Jack Sheldon, Herb Geller, Red Callender, ect.

[Cliff Englewood]

  brownie said:

John Graas is a rather forgotten musician these days but he recorded some of the best West Coast jazz in the '50s.

Thanks to the good people at Lonehill, his music remains preserved. Couple of highly recommended releases from them:

IIRC the aforementioned Bill Perkins is on some sessions with Grass, maybe with Mr PC and Philly Joe??? I think I had it, might still do. :unsure:

[CSB046]

Wow, lots of activity on this thread since I logged off last night! Thanks to everyone!

I still need to find time to go through post by post, but I did want to comment on the question of me seeking "cool" jazz as opposed to hard bop.

It's true that the cool side of things is newer to me and what I had in mind when I started the thread. However, rest assured that I will be filing away any and all recommendations for future purchases. I'm always happy to be introduced to jazz artists I'm not familiar with, regardless of exactly where they fall in the spectrum.

Thanks again!

[brownie]

  Cliff Englewood said:

IIRC the aforementioned Bill Perkins is on some sessions with Grass, maybe with Mr PC and Philly Joe??? I think I had it, might still do. :unsure:

The Decca session with Perk, Montrose, et al is included in that Jazz-Lab 1 & 2 release minus the PC-PJJ duo track!

[Peter Friedman]

  Cliff Englewood said:

I'd say anything with Bill Perkins is worth checking out. He's one of my favorites.

Bill Perkins was a wonderful tenor player when he played in the "Brothers" Lester Young style.

It was very disappointing to me when in later years his playing changed significantly. His attempts

at melding the influence of Coltrane and others in the harder toned style into his playing were

not ,in my opinion, successful.

[sjarrell]

The Cohn/Perkins/Kamuca Mosaic single is worth picking up. And has anyone mentioned these cornerstones?:

[CSB046]

  Joe said:

3 recommended OJCs in this "cooler" vein:

Paul Horn, SOMETHING BLUE

Huh. This cover looked really familiar, and it turns out I have this album on my iPod. I think I picked it up as a cutout a couple of months back and never listened to it.

[Joe]

I almost mentioned the Bill Perkins / John Lewis / Jim Hall / Percy Heath / Chico Hamilton GRAND ENCOUNTER. If you can find it, get it.

[Cliff Englewood]

  brownie said:

  Cliff Englewood said:

IIRC the aforementioned Bill Perkins is on some sessions with Grass, maybe with Mr PC and Philly Joe??? I think I had it, might still do. :unsure:

The Decca session with Perk, Montrose, et al is included in that Jazz-Lab 1 & 2 release minus the PC-PJJ duo track!

Cool, thanks for that.

  sjarrell said:

The Cohn/Perkins/Kamuca Mosaic single is worth picking up.

I remember being a bit disappointed with that one but I haven't listened to it in ages, I'll have to re-investigate it.

[king ubu]

This label has some later releases by a handful of West Coast greats (but I'm afraid the purist Perkins fans might not enjoy him there...)

http://www.woofyproductions.com/

I found the Perkins/Hufstetter, Bert/Baltazar and Don Menza discs recently... there are many more, including a series by Carl Fontana/Conte Candoli and releases by randissimo's dad, Arno Marsh.

[BillF]

  Joe said:

I almost mentioned the Bill Perkins / John Lewis / Jim Hall / Percy Heath / Chico Hamilton GRAND ENCOUNTER. If you can find it, get it.

Now available as half of John Lewis, West Coast/East Coast Encounter on Gambit.

[BillF]

  Cliff Englewood said:

  sjarrell said:

The Cohn/Perkins/Kamuca Mosaic single is worth picking up.

I remember being a bit disappointed with that one but I haven't listened to it in ages, I'll have to re-investigate it.

Pleased to have my feeling confirmed, Cliff. I am far happier with Perkins and Kamuca's Tenors Head On.