Lighthouse All-Stars Collection XXIV ★ Rarities at The Lighthouse

Los Angeles Jazz Institute 

Presents

West Coast Rarities

✤✤

Gerry Mulligan, Lennie Niehaus and Bud Shank at The Lighthouse

Apart from the unitary and official recordings that have been presented within the Lighthouse All-Stars collection, there are many stray private recordings that are gradually becoming known. One of them is this compendium with unreleased recordings compiled from original sources from the Los Angeles Jazz Institute archive.

Specifically, there are only three live recordings at the Lighthouse Cafe, although the others are of equal importance as they involve equally famous settings related to the West Coast Jazz movement of the 1950s.

Through this valuable material, which spans from 1952 to 1958, we witness the birth and consolidation of a vibrant musical scene in Southern California. The audio testimonies show us the inner history of its protagonists at key moments, such as a Gerry Mulligan newly arrived in the city and about to revolutionize the genre with his pianoless quartet, or the debut of Shorty Rogers' Big Band during an early morning television charity telethon.

The album also functions as a cartographic journey through the night spots that defined the era, taking the listener beyond the Lighthouse to enter jazz temples as legendary as The Haig, the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, Zardi's, or the Peacock Lane, and even singular events like the grand opening of a record store. Likewise, the document highlights the close camaraderie and spirit of collaboration among West Coast musicians, fostering spontaneous summits where figures of the stature of Stan Getz joined established groups.

It is also worth noting the enormous logistical and historical value of some of these tracks, which document the famous off-nights at the Lighthouse, when on Mondays and Tuesdays the club opened its doors to guest ensembles such as the Lennie Niehaus Quintet. It should be noted that the recordings contained on this compact disc come from a variety of sources, some of which were recorded under non-professional conditions; however, the editors have rightly considered that the extreme rarity and unique character of these performances preclude and compensate for any flaws that the quality of the original sound may present.

1 - Elevation

(Gerry Mulligan)

At the time of this recording, Gerry Mulligan had been in Los Angeles for about five months but had yet to find regular work. He wrote some arrangements for Stan Kenton and participated in jam sessions all over town. This rare recording finds Mulligan, prior to the formation of his "pianoless" quartet, sitting in on one of the Sunday sessions at The Lighthouse.

Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars:

Shorty Rogers (trumpet), Jimmy Giuffre (tenor sax), Bob Cooper (tenor sax),

Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax), Frank Patchen (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).

Recorded live at the Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, June 1, 1952

2 - Move

(Denzil Best)

"Move" was recorded live at The Haig during one of the first appearances of the new Gerry Mulligan Quartet. The group played the four Tuesdays in August while the Red Norvo Trio was the featured attraction throughout the week. It was during these first Tuesday nights that the Quartet became a sensation prompting the formation of Pacific Jazz Records. Before long both Mulligan and Chet Baker would become major jazz stars.

The Gerry Mulligan Quartet:

Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax), Chet Baker (trumpet),

Bob Whitlock (bass), Chico Hamilton (drums).

Recorded live at the Haig, Los Angeles, August, 1952

3 - Short Snort

(Shorty Rogers)

This live concert, recorded at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, features a dream line-up put together by Shorty Rogers specifically for this date. A true summit meeting of the giants of West Coast jazz.

Shorty Rogers and His Giants:

Shorty Rogers, Chet Baker (trumpets); Art Pepper (alto sax);

Wardell Gray (tenor sax); Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax);

Bob Enevoldsen (valve trombone); Hampton Hawes (piano);

Joe Mondragon (bass); Lawrence Marable (drums).

Recorded live at the Rendezvous Ballroom, Balboa Beach, September 28, 1952

4 - Short Stop

(Shorty Rogers)

This television broadcast from 1953 marked the debut of Shorty Rogers Big Band. It comes from a 25 hour Cerebral Palsy telethon hosted by Jack Webb. The show began at 11pm on Friday night and continued until midnight Saturday. Jazz fans had to stay up late if they wanted to see Shorty's new big band. The jazz segment didn't get underway until 3 o'clock in the morning.

Shorty Rogers Big Band:

Shorty Rogers, Conrad Gozzo, Tommy Reeves, Reuben McFall (trumpets);

Jack Dulong, Bud Shank, Bill Perkins, Don Davidson (reeds);

Herbie Harper, Harry Betts, Bob Enevoldsen (trombones);

John Graas (french horn); Paul Sarmento (tuba);

Marty Paich (piano); Joe Mondragon (bass); Shelly Manne (drums)

Cerebral Palsy Telethon, KBCA Channel 7, Los Angeles, June 6, 1953

5 - The Goof and I

(Al Cohn)

"The Goof and I " was recorded live at the Grand Opening of Larsen's Record Room in El Segundo and features the swinging 1955 version of the All-Stars with that great front line of Candoli, Shank, Cooper and Rosolino.

Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars:

Conte Candoli (trumpet), Bud Shank (alto sax),

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Frank Rosolino (trombone),

Claude Williamson (piano), Howard Rumsey (bass), Stan Levey (drums).

Recorded live at Larsen’s Record Room, El Segundo, March 4, 1955

6 - Topsy

(Edgar Battle, Eddie Durham)

By 1955, Shorty Rogers was a very busy man. In addition to his ever growing studio work, the Giants had recently started recording for Atlantic Records and had also begun a long engagement at Zardi's Jazz Club on Hollywood Blvd. Shorty's boyhood friend from the Bronx, Stan Getz, was in Los Angeles at the time and is found here sitting in with the Giants.

Shorty Rogers and His Giants with Stan Getz:

Shorty Rogers (trumpet), Jimmy Giuffre (clarinet), Stan Getz (tenor sax),

Pete Jolly (piano), Ralph Pena (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).

Recorded live at Zardi's, Hollywood, August 4, 1955

7 - Everybody Moan

(Ernie Wilkins)

Maynard Ferguson had spent the latter part of 1956 in New York with his Birdland Dream Band. After the Birdland engagement and subsequent recordings for Vik records he returned to Los Angeles and re-formed the West Coast Dream Band. That band was booked for the holidays at the Peacock Lane Club which was located at Hollywood Blvd. and Western Ave.

Maynard Ferguson and His Orchestra:

Maynard Ferguson, Ed Leddy, Joe Burnett, Tom Slaney (trumpets);

Herb Geller, Richie Kamuca, Nino Tempo, Willie Maiden (reeds);

Bob Fitzpatrick, Bob Burgess (trombones);

Paul Moer (piano); Red Kelly (bass); Mel Lewis (drums).

Recorded live at Peacock Lane, Hollywood, January 4, 1957

8 - Just Friends

(John Klenner, Sam M. Lewis)

By the late 1950s, The Lighthouse All-Stars worked Wednesday - Saturday plus the Sunday Concerts. Mondays and Tuesdays featured groups booked specifically for the off-nights. During the summer of 1957, the off night group was The Lennie Niehaus Quintet. This rare recording was made from the audience on one of those Monday or Tuesday nights.

The Lennie Niehaus Quintet:

Lennie Niehaus (alto sax), Bill Perkins (tenor sax),

Paul Moer (piano), Buddy Clark (bass), Mel Lewis (drums).

Recorded live at the Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, July, 1957

9 - Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me / Theme

(Duke Ellington / Bud Shank)

During the holiday season of 1957-58 Bud Shank returned to the familiar surroundings of the Lighthouse this time leading his own successful Quartet. The quartet was captured here for the KMLA "Nightlife" program.

Bud Shank Quartet:

Bud Shank (alto sax), Claude Williamson (piano),

Don Prell (bass), Chuck Flores (drums).

KMLA "Nightlife" Broadcast

Recorded live at the Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, January 1, 1958

Lighthouse All-Stars Collection XXIII ★ with Zoot Sims (II)

Zoot Sims

Lover Man

Zoot Sims On The West Coast • 1954

The tireless search for recordings that complete the historical puzzle of the Lighthouse All-Stars occasionally yields major surprises. Although the bulk of this volume takes us to an intimate and domestic setting, its inclusion in our Lighthouse All-Stars Collection series is fully justified by an exceptional historical rescue: the presence of Zoot Sims, as a stellar guest, on the stage of the mythical club in Hermosa Beach.

Once again, the miracle is due to Bob Andrews, who, equipped with his now-famous home recorder and a single microphone, managed to record a unique moment in the history of West Coast Jazz. We find ourselves specifically on the night of March 9, 1954. That evening already possessed a historical character for the group itself, as it marked the debut of the legendary drummer Stan Levey in the lineup, occupying the seat just vacated by Max Roach. The All-Stars performed with one of their most powerful incarnations: the horn section aligned Bob Cooper, Bud Shank, Frank Rosolino, and Stu Williamson, complemented by Claude Williamson on piano and the indefatigable Howard Rumsey on double bass.

Andrews set up his microphone and recorded the session. In fact, our previous blog post covered the album Zoot Sims with The Lighthouse All-Stars • 1954, which captured the official session recorded the very next day. Toward the end of the night, Zoot Sims took the stage with his tenor sax to join the band.

Regarding this valuable piece, which appears in this edition under the title "Lighthouse Days," the producer of the release, Toshinari Shiroshita, offers us a fascinating chronicle of its nature and execution in the liner notes:

The titles of the songs performed changed depending on the occasion at the jam session, adopting names like "Groovy Eyes" or "Goof and I". For this edition, we preferred to use the title "Lighthouse Days", just as Andrews originally noted it in his personal memorandum.

The structure of the piece treats us to an impressive succession of solos in a strict order: it begins with Zoot Sims himself, followed by Stu Williamson, Bud Shank, Frank Rosolino, Bob Cooper, and finally, Claude Williamson on piano. The dynamism of the performance reaches its peak in the final chorus, where an extremely interesting exchange of bars breaks out between the drums and each of the soloists, preventing the piece from falling into a simple improvisation routine. Stan Levey's intervention, with a short but highly sharp and precise drum solo, is irrefutable proof that we are dealing with a first-rate instrumentist.

In terms of the five pieces that complete this album, while the Lighthouse recording is the magnet for completists of the series, the rest of the tracks that round out this volume do not envy its historical importance at all. These five instrumental tracks take us to a much more exclusive setting whose exact date remains a mystery, cataloged simply on an unknown day of that same year, 1954: the intimacy of the home.

As Toshinari Shiroshita himself comments in the insert notes:

This is a valuable record of a very unusual rehearsal session, recorded when Zoot Sims (1925–1985), whose activities took place mainly on the East Coast, returned to his parents' home in California (a town near the Los Angeles International Airport). This rehearsal session was released on LP in 1991 by the Norma label under the title Pinky and Zoot, but the 5 tracks with the addition of vocalist Pinky Winters were released on CD in 2010 as "Pinky +12". This Lover Man being released now is composed of the purely instrumental tracks (without Pinky's vocals) from that session, and includes an unreleased track that was not included in the Norma LP.

Regarding the musicians participating in tracks #1 to #5 at Zoot's house, isn't it true that, except for Zoot, they are musicians who have hardly been heard of? For Zoot, whose activities took place mainly on the East Coast, a session on the West Coast in the mid-1950s like this one is extremely rare, but the reality of the L.A. scene runs deep. It is said that musicians like Heale and Inosencio played in top-tier big bands such as those of Benny Goodman or Woody Herman... His tenor sax style is in the line of Lester Young, and his talent was not only recognized by West Coast musicians but also enjoyed high popularity in Europe.

Pianist Timmy Inosencio was a music teacher at an L.A. high school in his later years and, according to Pinky Winters, was the band instructor at the high school Pinky's eldest daughter attended around 1970. He was a talented jazz musician who, since his high school days, aspired to be a professional jazz pianist and had acquired a solid technique and a great sense of swing. It seems he was a gifted musician who confirmed early on that 'you can't make a living from jazz' and chose that path. Trumpeter Marvin 'Tricky' Heale was Zoot's cousin. John Dorman was erroneously credited on the Norma LP as a trombonist, but Pinky testifies that he was a bass trumpet player and had no blood relation to Irving. Bassist Jim Wolf was Pinky's husband at the time.

1 - Dancing On The Ceiling

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

2- Popo

(Shorty Rogers)

3 - These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)

(Jack Strachey, Harry Link)

4 - I'll Remember April

(Don Raye, Gene DePaul, Pat Johnston)

5 - Lover Man

(Jimmy Davis, Roger Ramirez, Jimmy Sherman)

6 - Lighthouse Days

(Frank Patchen)

#1 to #5:

Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Marvin "Tootie" Hale (trumpet), John Dorman (bass trumpet),

Timothy "Timmy" Inocencio (piano), Jim Wolf (bass), Gary Hale (drums).

Recorded during a rehearsal at Zoot Sims' home, Inglewood, California, 1954

#6:

Zoot Sims, Bob Cooper (tenor saxes); Bud Shank (alto sax); 

Stu Williamson (trumpet); Frank Rosolino (trombone);

Claude Williamson (piano); Howard Rumsey (bass);  Stan Levey (drums).

Recorded live at The Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, California, March 9, 1954

Lighthouse All-Stars Collection XXII ★ with Zoot Sims (I)

Zoot Sims

With

The Lighthouse All-Stars • 1954

As we near the end of our "Lighthouse All-Stars Collection" jazz series, which brings together official albums and exclusive private recordings of the emblematic ensembles led by Howard Rumsey, it is now the turn of Zoot Sims, the absolute protagonist of this album.

Although musical historiography frequently links him to the West Coast jazz movement, Sims developed the bulk of his activity in New York during the 1950s. In those years, the jazz environment humorously ironized that he only traveled to the West Coast when he ran out of money in New York. Regardless of these anecdotes, his figure consolidated an exceptional respect and affection among the public and jazz fans in Japan. This discographic record constitutes a magnificent testimony of one of his most successful historic collaborations alongside the Lighthouse All-Stars.

Released on February 25, 2009, this album represents the world premiere CD release of a precious and previously unreleased documentary document. The Lighthouse All-Stars comprised the musicians who had established themselves as regulars at the long-running California jazz club, centered around bassist Howard Rumsey. The recording captures a brilliant improvisation session (jam session) in which Zoot Sims intervenes as a special guest, integrating with the regular lineup. It is an indispensable sound document that preserves with absolute fidelity the vibrant energy, spontaneity, and swing characteristic of a golden era for jazz, standing out as a rare West Coast performance where the special guest takes the first solo on every single track. The album's track list is integrated by three tracks: Frank Patchen's original composition "Goofy Eyes", an impeccable reading of the standard "All The Things You Are", and Milt Jackson's iconic "Bags Groove".

1 - Goofy Eyes

(Frank Patchen)

2 - All The Things You Are

(Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern) 

3 - Bags Groove

(Milt Jackson)

Zoot Sims, Bob Cooper (tenor saxes); Bud Shank (alto sax);

Stu Williamson (trumpet [#2]); Frank Rosolino (trombone);

Claude Williamson (piano); Howard Rumsey (bass); Stan Levey (drums).

Recorded live at The Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, California, March 10, 1954

Five-Star Collection... Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie

Horn Of Plenty 

In the spring of 1952, as modern jazz continued to spread across Europe, Dizzy Gillespie returned to Paris already established as one of the central figures of modern music. The city had largely ignored him when, barely twenty years old, he first arrived in Europe with Teddy Hill's orchestra in 1937. But Paris could no longer ignore him during his second visit, in February 1948, when he caused one of the greatest upheavals jazz had ever known by unleashing the explosive force of his bebop big band upon an audience still largely unprepared for it. Whether through that brief but unforgettable adventure or through his decisive role in shaping the entire language of bebop, Dizzy's contribution ensured that jazz would never be the same again. His name had by then joined that small circle of fundamental figures who altered the course of jazz history.

When he returned to Europe in 1952 to appear at the Paris Salon du Jazz — his third trip to the continent — memories of the triumphs of his big band four years earlier were still deeply etched in the minds of French jazz enthusiasts. But the context had changed. The big band itself already belonged to the past, and bebop had moved beyond the shock of its first youthful explosion. Dizzy still had bop, but he also had roots: his style was beginning to mature into a broader synthesis, an amalgam of all his musical experience that hinted at a new kind of modern classicism.

It was in this atmosphere that Gillespie led a flexible Paris-based group including tenor saxophonist Don Byas, pianist Arnold Ross, and several French musicians such as Hubert and Raymond Fol, Pierre Michelot, and Pierre Lemarchand. The sessions — held on March 27 and April 11 at Parisian studios such as Jouvenet and the Schola Cantorum — were recorded for the Blue Star label, distributed by Vogue, which at the time was actively documenting the presence of major American jazz soloists in the French capital.

A year later, Blue Note Records, always alert to high-quality jazz being recorded outside the United States, acquired the American release rights to part of those recordings. Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff decided to include them in their 10-inch LP "5000 series", devoted to modern jazz in compact format. The result was Horn Of Plenty (BLP 5017), released in 1953 with eight performances combining standards such as "Sweet Lorraine", "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams", and "Somebody Loves Me" with more recent pieces like "Afro-Paris".

Unlike most Blue Note productions of the period, there was no New York recording session and no direct supervision by Lion or Wolff; the material was licensed entirely from the French masters. This also explains the album's distinctive sound and the presence of European musicians throughout several of the performances. Blue Note issued the album with its characteristic graphic design but without liner notes, perhaps because the label had not participated directly in the recording process and lacked complete session details.

In retrospect, Horn of Plenty stands as a singular document within both Dizzy Gillespie's and Blue Note's catalogs: an early example of transatlantic collaboration that demonstrated the vitality of bebop far beyond its original birthplace. These Paris sessions captured Gillespie at a moment of artistic transition — more relaxed and reflective, surrounded by French colleagues and removed from the pressures of the big-band world — at a time when his music had already begun to assume an international dimension.

Cut in Paris a year ago, these were made at two dates. The numbers with four horns (Diz, Don Byas, Hubert Fol, Bill Tamper) have a French rhythm section (Raymond Fol, Pierre Michelot, Pierre Lemarchand); titles with smaller group have an American rhythm section (Arnold Ross, Joe Benjamin, Bill Clark). Lady Bird is the only title to make full use of an arrangement and of the French soloists (Hubert sounds like a boppish Benny Carter, Tamper like a Bill Harris). 

Although there are minor flaws (Dizzy's lip falters here and there; the rhythm section is logy on the last title) the overall impression is highly favorable. Rejecting comedy for the nonce, Diz played fine, sincere horn with true emotional content and melodic value. His one slow chorus on Lorraine, three choruses on Somebody and muted work on the fast, exciting minor Afro are especially effective. Don Byas is all over the place too, sounding like old times.

*Down Beat, Chicago, March 11, 1953 [5 stars]*

Side 1

1 - Sweet Lorraine

(Mitchell Parish, Cliff Burwell)

2 - Lady Bird

(Tadd Dameron)

3 - Hurry Home

(Buddy Bernier, Romert D. Emmerich, Joseph Meyer)

4 - Afro Paris

(Billy Taylor)

Side 2

5 - Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams

(Harry Barris, Ted Koehler, Billy Moll)

6 - She's Funny That Way

(Neil Moret, Richard Whiting)

7 - Somebody Loves Me

(George Gershwin, Buddy G. De Sylva, Ballard MacDonald)

8 - Everything Happens To Me

(Matt Denis, Tom Adair)

#3, #4:

Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Don Byas (tenor sax), Arnold Ross (piano),

Joe Benjamin (bass), Bill Clark (drums), Umberto Canto (congas).

Recorded at Studio Jouvenet, Paris, France, March 27, 1952

#1, #2, #5, #6, #7, #8: 

Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Bill Tamper (trombone),

Hubert Fol (alto sax), Don Byas (tenor sax),

Raymond Fol (piano), Pierre Michelot (bass), Pierre Lemarchand (drums)

Recortded at the auditorium of the Schola Cantorum, Paris, France, April 11, 1952

✤✤✤✤

For those who prefer the digital versions of these recordings, the material originally issued by Blue Note as Horn of Plenty can be found in the second of the two volumes Vogue devoted to documenting Dizzy Gillespie's Parisian stay in 1952 and 1953. While this volume gathers the studio sessions recorded for the French label, the other focuses on the live performances documented during those same European visits.

The Vogue edition also offers several advantages over the original Blue Note LP: not only does it include performances omitted from Horn of Plenty, but also a number of alternate takes later recovered from the French archives. In this way, the listener gains access to a far more complete picture of Dizzy's Paris period, both in the studio and on stage.

Dizzy Gillespie

In Paris • Volume 2

Recording opportunities were not lacking for Dizzy and Vogue lured him into the studios twice within barely a fortnight. He recorded a total of twelve titles and included here are four previously unissued alternate takes. The first session took place on March 27th 1952 with Dizzy backed by the trio then accompanying Lena Horne at the Lido. Giving the main support was the very man who had been his fellow quintet member at the Onyx Club in 1944, tenor saxophonist (and now European resident) Don Byas. Afro Paris and Say Eh belong to Dizzy's Afro-bop and "oo-bop-sha-boo" side, while Hurry Home and I Cover the Waterfront are handled in a sober classical ballad style while still bringing endless unmistakably bop turns and inflections.

The April 11th session finds Dizzy playing with an open, vibrant and rich sound throughout, backed by Hubert Fol's prestigious quartet, with trombonist Bill Tamper and Don Byas mainly present to strengthen the ensemble voices. The programme opens with the erroneously titled Cripple Crapple Crutch, a dragging blues which Dizzy was to perform throughout the rest of his career. "I wouldn't give a blind sow an acorn, wouldn't give a cripple crab a crutch", he sings, and you can't get much crueller than that! Dizzy Song, Somebody Loves Me and Wrap Your Troubles (the latter in two takes) are taken at brisk medium tempos, while the other four titles are slow ballads which allow Dizzy to expand truly magnificently.

The following year Dizzy returned to Europe, this time with his own quintet and singer Joe Carroll. For the February 22nd 1953 Vogue studio session, whose eight titles include Joe Carroll's vibrant vocal on Clappin' Rhythm issued here for the first time, Nat Peck's trombone replaces Bill Graham's baritone saxophone. Dizzy again plays open throughout and produces some of the most fabulous trumpet solos one could wish to hear. This session has humour (the tongue-in-cheek quality of Always, 'S Wonderful and even Mon homme), bop surrealism in Joe Carroll's Oo-Bla-Dee, beauty (Moon Nocturne, This Is the Way), blues (Watch Out) and a constant natural swing. In short: excellent music, still completely contemporary forty years later.

*Don Waterhouse (from the liner notes)*

1 - Afro Paris

(Billy Taylor)

2 - Afro Paris

(Billy Taylor)

3 - Hurry Home

(Buddy Bernier, Romert D. Emmerich, Joseph Meyer)

4 - Hurry Home

(Buddy Bernier, Romert D. Emmerich, Joseph Meyer)

5 - Say Eh

(Dizzy Gillespie)

6 - Say Eh

(Dizzy Gillespie)

7 - I Cover the Waterfront

(Johnny Green, Edward Heyman)

8 - You Ain't Such a Much

(Pleasant Joseph)

9 - Dizzy Song (Lady Bird)

(Tadd Dameron)

10 - Somebody Loves Me

(George Gershwin, Buddy G. De Sylva, Ballard MacDonald)

11 - She's Funny That Way

(Neil Moret, Richard Whiting)

12 - Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams

(Harry Barris, Ted Koehler, Billy Moll)

13 - Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams

(Harry Barris, Ted Koehler, Billy Moll)

14 - Sweet Lorraine

(Mitchell Parish, Cliff Burwell)

15 - Everything Happens to Me

(Matt Denis, Tom Adair)

16 - I Don't Know Why

(Roy Turk, Fred E. Ahlert)

17 - Always

(Irving Berlin)

18 - Mon Homme

(Maurice Yvain, Albert Willemetz)

19 - Clappin Rhythm

(Dizzy Gillespie)

20 - Fais Gaffe (Watch Out)

(Dizzy Gillespie)

21 - Moon Nocturne

(Nathaniel Shilkret)

22 - This Is the Way

(Dizzy Gillespie)

23 - 'S Wonderful

(George Gershwin)

24 - Oo-Bla-Dee

(Mary Lou Williams, Milt Orent)

Note:

The recording locations on the artwork are incomplete or incorrect

and are added to, or corrected, below:

#1 to #7:

Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet, vocal), Don Byas (tenor sax), Arnold Ross (piano),

Joe Benjamin (bass), Bill Clark (drums), Umberto Canto (congas).

Recorded at Studio Jouvenet, Paris, France, March 27, 1952

#8 to #16:

Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet, vocal), Bill Tamper (trombone), Hubert Fol (alto sax),

Don Byas (tenor sax), Raymond Fol (piano),

Pierre Michelot (bass), Pierre Lemarchand (drums).

Recortded at the auditorium of the Schola Cantorum, Paris, France, April 11, 1952

#17 to #24:

Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet, vocal [#19]), Nat Peck (trombone), Wade Legge (piano),

Lou Hackney (bass), Al Jones (drums), Joe Carroll (vocal [#24]).

Recorded at Studio Rex, Paris, France, February 22, 1953

Five-Star Collection... Bill Evans and Jim Hall

Bill Evans & Jim Hall

Undercurrent

In June 1961, Bill Evans reached the pinnacle of jazz with his trio at New York's Village Vanguard. However, the euphoria was brutally cut short just days later by the tragic death of his bassist, Scott LaFaro. Devastated, Evans withdrew from the world and stopped playing for nearly a year. It was Jim Hall who gently pulled him out of the darkness. Undercurrent was that saving grace—a masterpiece born from raw healing and absolute creative empathy.

The visual gateway to this profound rebirth is one of the most hauntingly beautiful covers in jazz history. The striking image, captured by pioneering photographer Toni Frissell in December 1947 at Weeki Wachee Spring, Florida, depicts a performer suspended in crystalline waters like an underwater phantom. Her drifting white dress embodies the very essence of the album's title: a weightless, deep, and silent undercurrent that mirrors the quiet intensity of Evans' piano and Hall's guitar.

Yet, when turning over the sleeve of this deeply emotional and visual album, any collector expecting traditional, comforting liner notes is in for a shock. Instead, we run into a wonderful, cryptic anomaly titled "Wait Quickly", signed by the experimental writer Barry J. Titus.

Leaving the sacred jazz critics of the day aside, visionary producer Alan Douglas decided that this profound return to music shouldn't be explained, but rather translated into modern art. The result is a sharp literary fiction; a cross between hard-boiled pulp and William Burroughs' cut-up beat poetry, masterfully driven by the stream of consciousness technique immortalized by James Joyce in Ulysses.

Titus shatters syntax and discards punctuation, blending flashes of pure poetry with mundane, everyday thoughts—perhaps capturing the fragmented mind of a healing genius. Yet, through the apparent chaos, real clues from the studio remain: explicit mentions of the piano leg shadows ("piano leg shadows"), the instrument's keys ("fat ended keys"), and even the fetishized date of May 15th, 1959.

Do not look for linear logic here; this text has dated in a way the music never will, yet it remains a fascinating relic meant to be felt. Below, we share this visual and literary experiment for you to experience on your screen while letting the music play...

Rimmed iron wheels chew candy between tracks window smithers Xmas tree window silver money fleeing present unone given coca cola smiling blank wall perspires omens heads nodding close gaped lips seen stick stuck taxi sign disrobes May 15th, 1959, hanging about her knees mail bundle wheeled cripple clutches Read Wall Street clock white sun monocle IIV or VII long blink see eyes time? Appari-tional liquid hesitates a foot, a universe below the white paint-trussed varicose cieling. Liquid slips, drops, unoutlineable shape, presenting absence, glides unreal, an excuse for splattering focus, a school of Dolphins or a dark Grecian head. Virtu-oso: practice makes perfect. Two sharps. Ice crystal diamond egg frog oan wrkwrx-wrxwrx. Donned rubber belts nose mouth. Nub knuckled fingers bounce overfilled heat tear salt balling. Again. Two sharps: Ice crystal, diamonkey, egg, nail rubonk, snill. Huhhh. Snill. rubru, nail, frog, dia-mond many windows flash ice. Air out. Curtain fingers, cieling lines, French door bars gripped unstill sun broiling play, fat ended keys with black spines. “How could the Augsburg festival have been in Vienna, hah! Loewy?” Paint corner her jagged lip fingertips petrified red cream smile flicked starving grotto. “I mean is she a satirist or,” her tendon muscle stomach dieted twist the flat skirt front. “I think she needs a milk man, Loewy.” The shambled, bent, stripped fingers forked each others angles. His imagination chained in Veronica’s orange ochre wallpaper, blankets. A quick-silver limb paints the swamptoon. “Yes, I do!” shook, he shivered, remembering, room loose daggers broke ice bergs about them. Peanut butter note, Fang, Fang. Ice Fang back wriggled sorcerer hand hung dead skin frog fangs back Mama into Eassie leap shrunk from the door hid sharpened tusk hallway awwrice fang bump jump. “Six fifteen,” growled grate hunched on the sofa. “You’re presence is expiring, I mean, inspiring.” Blue, yellow tinged, Mars capillaried, eye, blue crystal, whites slash, “I know what I want! Why is it such a struggle for you? I feel revolu-tions.” Lie quicksilver idealisation limb delusion chrome rationalisation dance dragged curtained bog cracked ice ama-zon child’s burning nerves. Always left whiskers, uneven fingernails, premature orgasms hairy legs, long nose pranthula. Go play. Eat chocolate cake, peanut but-ter, pickles, but clean your room and wash your elbows. Ceiling lines, piano leg shad-ows, French door bars, eleven to four thirty. “Ma!” shook the still fingers. Rec-tangled silence coagulated, scraped wait-ing, dangling. Daddyeeee drove him smack clamored up back fallen stairs into the quilt where a silk wrapped, dark quaked moon bled tears. Run vanity open smear black commaed cheek. “Coups d’etat!” forehead burst powder, lipstick ribboned run eye shadow sink spit spigot greyened clear washed black rubbed lather pushed red pressed tan smeared blue smudged grey circled one eye deathlaughcue hic-cupping criggle vermouth spread on the table top gash crystal core neck glass cupped fingers polished green. A silver ghost hears. Life illuminates a paper screen. Eyes dance truth’s instrument. Sieve, sickle and sloat, the rad grimes grey molds parted skins furrowed tissue lives skeletal screams. Long brown stone blunt nose raised, “Naked day?” puffed sound hat swivel, “I don’t know what to say.” Jagged leaning brown limbed face. His eyes crumbled smiles smoke dust wound warm bricks.

*"Wait Quickly" by Barry J. Titus (from the liner notes)*

This collaboration between Evans and Hall has resulted in some of the most beautiful, thoroughly ingratiating music it has been my pleasure to hear —now or any other time. Each of the selections is suffused with a lyric charm, a tenderness, an elegance, an unabashed romanticism that take one's breath away. These joint inventions have the stamp of inevitability about them, the ring of utter verity in every line and note —the result of a perfect meeting of minds.

Yet not only is the music remarkable for its delicacy and subtlety of interaction, it is immediately appealing for its manifest loveliness. Of the six selections, five are warm, ardent ballads. They are afforded reflective, luminous performances that emphasize to the utmost the lyricism of the songs, yet are never cloying or overdone. It would be difficult to imagine more perfect realizations of the songs —especially "Dream Gypsy" and Hall's attractive "Romain"— for on every one there are any number of moments of glowing, unalloyed beauty, as Evans and Hall spin out their shimmering entwining lines.

The sixth song, "Valentine", is something of a dark horse. Reportedly, United Artists wanted an entire collection of ruminative ballads on the order of the first five; but after the session at which the ballads were recorded, Evans and Hall continued to play for their own satisfaction. Fortunately, the tape machines were left running. Fortunately, because "Valentine" is sure to assume the status of a classic.

Taken at a medium-up tempo, the track is a truly astonishing display of collective creation, with two of jazz' foremost lyrical players at peak form, responding to each other's inventions in a ceaseless, probing, restless and powerful rush of extemporization, producing a seamless whole of force, intensity, and impassioned fervor.

On this track Evans plays in a harder, more jabbing, and extroverted style than has been his wont, supporting Hall's lead lines with a series of fragmented, angular, broken-rhythm chord patterns, and phrasing in his own solos in a lithe, muscular, fiery manner. It's an explosive, highly exciting performance, one that never lets up and which builds to a strong climax.

In the face of such blazing beauty, any attempts at description or analysis are bound to prove fruitless. This music must be heard, and I cannot recommend it highly enough to jazz fans of all persuasions. You can't help but respond to this, for music of this high order knows no age or school. Real art never does. *Pete Welding (Down Beat, November 22, 1962 [5 stars])*

1 - My Funny Valentine (alternate take)

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

2 - My Funny Valentine

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

3 - I Hear A Rhapsody

(Fragos, Baker, Gasparre)

4 - Dream Gypsy

(Judith Veevers)

5 - Stairway To The Stars

(Malneck, Signorelli, Parish)

6 - I'm Getting Sentimental Over You

(Bassman, Washington)

7 - Romain

(Jim Hall)

8 - Romain (alternate take)

(Jim Hall)

9 - Skating In Central Park

(John Lewis)

10 - Darn That Dream

(DeLange, VanHeusen)

Bill Evans (piano), Jim Hall (guitar)

Recorded at Sound Makers, New York City,

April 24 (#3, #5, #6) and May 14 (#1, #2, #4, #7 to #10), 1962

Lighthouse All-Stars Collection XXI ★ with Stan Getz (II)

Stan Getz

With

The Lighthouse All-Stars • 1953

Having presented in our previous post Stan Getz's extraordinary stint at the Lighthouse on September 14, 1952, chronology now moves us eight months forward. We find ourselves on May 31, 1953, to examine a fundamental document that records, once again, the participation of the tenor sax giant and jazz musician par excellence as a guest alongside the Lighthouse Allstars. This new series of exciting live performances at the Lighthouse Café on Pier Avenue, Hermosa Beach, California, was captured by recording engineer Bob Andrews using a single microphone and a tape recorder.

Getz was born on February 27, 1927, in Philadelphia. His real name was Stanley Gayetzki, but his parents changed it due to discrimination. Discovered by Woody Herman's producer, by the late 1940s and into the 1950s he had already made a name for himself, being acclaimed during those years as "The Sound." He can be considered an exceptional musician who remained at the forefront throughout his entire life, continuing his musical activity until shortly before passing away from liver cancer in California on June 6, 1991.

On the other hand, the Lighthouse Allstars—the band backing Getz on this occasion—were the house group at the club. Although Shorty Rogers and Jimmy Giuffre were the central figures of the ensemble at that time, for this session we have Teddy Charles on vibes, Russ Freeman on piano, leader Howard Rumsey on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums.

The vibrant beach atmosphere can be felt throughout this magnificent compilation of live West Coast Jazz. The festive crowd enjoyed these jam sessions, and their enthusiasm drove the band, inspiring an energy that transforms the dynamics wherever the recording is played. If some of the horns—Getz, Bob Cooper, and Jimmy Giuffre—seem slightly off-mic, it must be kept in mind that these are neither perfectly balanced nor professionally mixed recordings. However, it is by no means a sloppy audience tape; the overall sound is surprisingly consistent, and the music is exceptional, including brilliant passages by vibraphonist Teddy Charles.

Amidst this impeccable rhythm section, Getz sounds divine on every track, in any company, no matter what happens. Great moments abound in this superb compilation, where two extensions of Basie's repertoire stand out in particular: an interpolation of nearly 12 minutes of Harry "Sweets" Edison's "Jive at Five" and a magnetically modern rendition of Eddie Durham's "Topsy". Ultimately, the album stands as a valuable session that splendidly captures Getz's golden era in 1953.

Off Note:

It is imperative to warn the reader and collector about the gross editorial errors carried by the CD edition of this volume (coordinated under the Interplay/Norma label).

In the first place, the front cover incurs a flagrant chronological error by dating the session as 1954, when historical documentation and the liner notes themselves unanimously confirm that the recording took place on May 31, 1953.

Allow me the boldness of presenting this album cover as it should have been, if only as an illustration:

In the second place (and as a warning to those who can read the Japanese text), an analysis of the liner notes—signed by producer Yasunori Iwanami—reveals an alarming lack of editorial oversight. The text enthusiastically describes the performance of songs that are not present on the CD, surely due to recycling generic information from the complete All-Stars sessions, completely ignoring the actual content of the disc.

As if that were not enough, the tray card adds two other monumental errors:

a) "Jive At Five" is listed as "Jive Jumpin'" and credited to Claude Williamson. This is a doubly egregious blunder, given that "Jive at Five" is an absolute classic by Count Basie and Harry "Sweets" Edison from 1938. By mistitling it, they confuse the piece with a later composition or arrangement, stripping the track of its true historical roots.

b) "So Long Broadway" is presented under the title "Heading Hermosa" and credited to Stu Williamson, which is nothing short of a record label fantasy. They decided to alter the original title of the composition to provide some "local color" related to Hermosa Beach, burying the song's real name.

Let us then separate the wheat from the chaff: the music of Getz and the All-Stars in May '53 is sublime, but the packaging of this edition is a true disappointment that we take charge of amending here. The correct information is as follows:

1 - Only Have Eyes For You

(Al Dubin, Harry Warren)

2 - Jive At Five (as Jive Jumpin')

(Count Basie, Harry "Sweets" Edison)

3 - Moonlight In Vermont

(John Blackburn, Karl Suessdorf)

4 - Love Me Or Leave Me

(Gus Kahn, Walter Donaldson)

5 - So Long Broadway (as Heading Hermosa)

(Teddy Charles)

6 - Topsy

(Eddie Durham, Edgar Battle)

Stan Getz, Bob Cooper (tenor saxes); Jimmy Giuffre (baritone sax);

Teddy Charles (vibes); Russ Freeman (piano); Howard Rumsey (bass); Shelly Manne (drums).

Recorded live at The Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, California, May 31, 1953

(to be continued...)

Lighthouse All-Stars Collection XX ★ with Stan Getz (I)

Stan Getz

Scrapple From The Apple

Live At The Lighthouse 1952

The story behind this recording is actually a fascinating stroke of luck. On that particular night back in 1952, Jimmy Giuffre —The Lighthouse's regular tenor sax player—was a no-show. As it turned out, Woody Herman’s big band happened to be in Los Angeles on tour at the exact same time, so the club scrambled and called in Arno Marsh, one of Herman's current saxophonists, to fill the empty chair.

But the real magic happened when Stan Getz caught wind of the gig. Getz was already a massive jazz superstar by then, and since he had also been an alumnus of the Woody Herman band a few years prior, he decided to drop by the club completely unannounced. He literally just showed up out of the blue and jumped on stage to join the jam session.

Thanks to the ex-drummer and producer Bob Andrews, who happened to be capturing everything on tape, this unexpected encounter was saved for posterity. In fact, these tapes are the only surviving records of Getz and Arno Marsh sharing the spotlight together at The Lighthouse, making this release a truly unique, legendary piece of jazz history.

Toshinari Myonaka, a renowned Japanese jazz producer and critic widely known for his archival historical releases, concluded the album's original liner notes—dated February 13, 2013—with the following detailed analysis of the musicians and the repertoire from that unrepeatable evening:

About the Musicians:

Writing a lengthy biography for Stan Getz (1927–1991) is hardly necessary. He was a true superstar who played with top-tier big bands such as Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and Woody Herman, eventually transcending the boundaries of jazz with his massive 1963 Bossa Nova hits.

On the other hand, since the co-featured tenor saxophonist, Arno Marsh, is less widely known, I would like to share a few details about him. I have verified directly from those close to him that he is not related to Warne Marsh, despite sharing a similar last name. Arno was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1928.

He began his musical journey with private alto saxophone lessons and played with local bands before switching to tenor sax during the dance band era. From 1951 to 1953, he was a member of Woody Herman's big band (The Third Herd), where his bandmates included Bill Perkins. After temporarily returning to his hometown of Grand Rapids, he played in Red Norvo's band from 1955 to 1958. Following the band's dissolution in Las Vegas in 1958, he relocated there permanently. While making a living as a house painter, he continued to perform with local Las Vegas bands.

In a magazine interview, Arno cited Chu Berry, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, and Lester Young as his earliest and most significant influences on the saxophone. He also named Sonny Rollins, Wardell Gray, and Stan Getz as his personal favorites.

As he entered the 1990s, he began releasing albums as a leader. He recorded a substantial number of sessions for the local label WOOFY, including co-led albums with trombonist Carl Fontana. As a side note, his son, Randy Marsh, is also active as a jazz drummer.

Since Getz played in Herman's band from 1947 to 1949, and Arno was there in the early '50s, their timelines didn't directly overlap, though they certainly knew of each other. Because this session was recorded while Arno was still actively touring with the Herman band, it is highly likely he visited The Lighthouse during a Los Angeles tour stop and was asked to fill in for Giuffre.

As for the other musicians, they are the familiar faces of the regular All-Stars. Shorty Rogers (1924–1994), Milt Bernhart (1926–2004), Hampton Hawes (1928–1977), and Shelly Manne (1920–1984) have all passed away. Bassist Howard Rumsey is the sole survivor, but since he turns 96 in November of this year, he is no longer performing and is currently resting in the town of Hemet, California.

About this Album:

Although this album features only three tracks, each one is an extended, sprawling performance lasting over ten minutes.

The opening track is Charlie Parker's "Scrapple From The Apple". The first tenor solo is delivered by Getz, followed by Rogers on trumpet, and then Arno Marsh takes his turn. In Arno's playing, you can hear that while he was a self-proclaimed fan of Rollins, he was also heavily influenced by Getz and Lester Young.

The second track, the standard "Love Me or Leave Me", also kicks off with a solo by Getz. After Milt Bernhart's trombone solo, it's Arno Marsh's turn—but for some reason, he switches to the clarinet for his solo. It was quite rare for Getz, who was highly particular about fellow tenor players, to step aside so graciously for another saxophonist on stage, but there is absolutely no sense of rivalry here. The performance seamlessly transitions into solos by Rogers, Hawes, and Manne. Arno's clarinet style leans beautifully close to that of Lester Young.

The third track is "Tiny's Blues", composed by drummer Tiny Kahn. Since Kahn also spent time in Woody Herman's band, this track was likely selected by Arno Marsh, who was both a contemporary and a fellow alumnus of that orchestra. The solo sequence here begins with Milt Bernhart's trombone, followed by another appearance by Arno Marsh on clarinet. After Shorty Rogers' trumpet solo, Getz takes the spotlight, and Hampton Hawes delivers a stellar performance. This recording captures Hawes in peak musical form, right before he was drafted into the military and stationed in Japan shortly after this date.

As you listen through the tracks, you can hear how the regular Lighthouse All-Stars grow increasingly inspired, pushing the intensity of their performance to a higher level under the stimulation of their guest for the night.

*Toshinari Myonaka (from the japanese liner notes)*

Scrapple from the Apple: Live at the Lighthouse 1952 features saxophonist Stan Getz performing live in a jam session recorded at the legendary Hermosa Beach nightclub the Lighthouse in 1952. Among the West Coast jazz luminaries joining Getz here are trumpeter Shorty Rogers, pianist Hampton Hawes, drummer Shelly Manne, saxophonist Arno Marsh, trombonist Milt Bernhart, and Lighthouse owner bassist Howard Ramsey. This is a lo-fi recording with all the requisite background crowd noise and generally fuzzy audio. Nonetheless, independent recordings like this often capture the raw, unrehearsed energy and vibe of a certain time and place; Scrapple from the Apple is no exception. This is a high-energy, heavy-swinging bop-oriented date that is well worth checking out. *Matt Collar (allmusic.com)*

1 - Scrapple From The Apple

(Charlie Parker)

2 - Love Me Or Leave Me

(Walter Donaldson)

3 - Tiny's Blues

(Tiny Kahn)

Shorty Rogers (trumpet), Milt Bernhart (trombone), 

Stan Getz (tenor sax), Arno Marsh (tenor sax [#1], clarinet [#2, #3],

Hampton Hawes (piano), Howard Rumsey (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).

Recorded live at The Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, California, September 14, 1952

More Art Pepper at The Lighthouse Cafe

Art Pepper

Complete Straight Ahead Sessions

By the spring of 1953, the Lighthouse Cafe had already become one of the central laboratories of the emerging West Coast sound. Week after week, musicians, arrangers, and restless young soloists gathered there for the long Sunday sessions that blurred the line between the atmosphere of an informal jam session and genuine artistic experimentation. Somewhere among the crowded tables, cigarette smoke, and constant movement of the club, Bob Andrews once again set up his portable Pentron tape recorder, unknowingly capturing one of the very few documented encounters between Art Pepper and Sonny Clark.

Although later associated with different musical worlds, Pepper and Clark met here at a fascinating transitional moment in their careers. Pepper, already one of the most distinctive voices to emerge from the California scene, was still refining the lyrical and emotionally direct style that would later define his mature work. Clark, several years away from his celebrated Blue Note recordings, had not yet fully entered the New York hard-bop circuit that would make him one of the essential pianists of his generation. These performances capture both musicians before mythology had fully formed around them. The original 10-inch "Straight Ahead" releases preserve Pepper at a particularly luminous moment in his early development, shortly before the legal and personal difficulties of the mid-1950s temporarily removed him from the center of the jazz scene.

The historical importance of these tapes lies not only in their rarity — live open-reel recordings of this kind were still highly unusual in 1953 — but also in the spontaneous atmosphere they retain. Far removed from the controlled environment of the recording studio, the music reflects the genuine sound of the Lighthouse scene itself: relaxed, exploratory, and deeply rooted in the weekly musical life of Hermosa Beach.

By this time, Bob Andrews had already become a familiar presence within the Southern California jazz scene, moving quietly from club to club with his tape recorder and single microphone. What had begun simply as a personal fascination with the music would eventually evolve into one of the most valuable private archives of early West Coast jazz, later issued through Andrews' own Vantage label and subsequent reissues.

The repertoire heard throughout these sessions moves comfortably between standards and originals, but the true fascination of the material lies in the musical dialogue itself. Pepper's luminous alto sound contrasts naturally with Clark's darker, more rhythmically grounded approach, producing a musical tension that gives the performances much of their character. Heard today, these recordings function not merely as collector's items, but as rare surviving fragments from a period when the language of modern jazz on the West Coast was still being shaped night after night inside clubs like the Lighthouse.

As with many surviving documents from this period, the technical limitations of the original tapes remain secondary to the remarkable historical testimony they provide.

Admittedly, this Jazz Factory double disc leaves something to be desired in the sound reproduction and mastering departments. But it is of little consequence when one considers the historical value of the performances here that showcase Art Pepper early in his solo career, with Sonny Clark on piano. The sound quality — which isn't terrible by a long shot and is not noisy, just less than sparkling — becomes no deterrent at all when one hears the illustrious communication between Pepper and Clark — making Clark seem like the bandleader, incidentally.

The rhythm section of drummer Bobby White, and bassist and cellist Harry Babasin are not terribly remarkable, except that they swing very hard on the blues. But Pepper, who defers to Clark in many places, is at his lyrical best as a soloist here, and Clark's gorgeous and funky chordal structures provide him with a lush and street-savvy base from which to fly into the his hardest-sounding blues and bop runs from the early days. This may be for Pepper and Clark collectors only, but it should appeal to anyone interested in the only true joining of hard bop and West Coast traditions.

*Thom Jurek*

CD 1

1 - Brown Gold

(Art Pepper)

2 - These Foolish Things

(Jack Strachey, Eric Maschwitz)

3 - Tickle Toe

(Lester Young)

4 - Tenderly

(Jack Lawrence, Walter Gross)

5 - Strike Up the Band

(George and Ira Gershwin)

6 - Night And Day

(Cole Porter)

7 - Deep Purple

(Peter DeRose, Mitchell Parish) 

CD 2

1 - Bluebird

(Charlie Parker)

2 - Pennies From Heaven

(Johnny Burke, Arthur Johnston)

3 - 'S Wonderful

(George and Ira Gershwin)

4 - Holiday Flight

(Art Pepper)

Art Pepper (alto sax), Sonny Clark (piano),

Harry Babasin (bass, cello), Bobby White (drums).

Recorded live at The Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, California, 

March 30 (#7 [CD1], #1, #4 [CD2]), April 1 (#2, #3 [CD2]) and May 31 (#1 to #6 [CD1]), 1953

 

Lighthouse All-Stars Collection XIX ★ with Art Pepper (II)

Bob Andrews Presents

Art Pepper

Live At The Lighthouse '52

Ten days after the performance documented in the previous post, the music at the Lighthouse Cafe continued uninterrupted. Another Sunday afternoon, another crowded room, and once again the tape recorder of Bob Andrews quietly captured the sound of a scene that, at the time, few could have imagined would later acquire historical significance.

Recorded live in 1952, this performance preserves a young Art Pepper appearing as a guest soloist during the formative years of what would soon be identified worldwide as West Coast Jazz. The historical importance of these tapes lies not only in their rarity — open-reel live recordings of this kind were still highly unusual in the early 1950s — but also in the atmosphere they preserve: informal, spontaneous, and far removed from the controlled environment of the recording studio. What survives here is the genuine sound of the Lighthouse scene itself.

Much of that atmosphere survives thanks to Andrews, an amateur drummer, jazz enthusiast, and record shop owner who, during the early 1950s, began carrying a portable Pentron tape recorder from club to club across the Los Angeles area. Using little more than a single microphone and whatever connection or corner the venue allowed him, he documented performances at the Lighthouse, the Tradewinds, the Surf Club, and countless informal sessions that otherwise would have vanished completely. What may have seemed at the time like an almost quixotic obsession gradually became one of the most important private archives of early West Coast jazz.

Bob Andrews would later found Record Ville in the South Bay area and eventually establish Vantage Records, the label through which many of those recordings finally reached the public years later. Like Jerry Newman a decade earlier in New York, Andrews unintentionally became one of the great sonic archivists of a jazz movement while it was still unfolding in real time.

The repertoire presented here consists largely of standards, alongside two originals by pianist Frank Patchen, but the central attraction is unmistakably Pepper himself. His performance on “Over the Rainbow” — already emerging as one of the defining features of his repertoire — reveals the lyrical phrasing, rhythmic assurance, and emotional directness that would later establish him as one of the essential voices of modern jazz. Even at this early stage, his improvisations already possess the unmistakable fluidity and imagination of a fully formed musical personality.

More than a conventional live album, this recording functions as an unguarded document of a particular place and moment: the weekly musical life of Hermosa Beach at the precise moment when an entire jazz language was beginning to take shape.

Off note:

The audio quality is naturally limited by the portable equipment and live conditions of the period, yet recordings such as this remain invaluable for the vivid glimpse they offer into the real atmosphere of the early West Coast scene.

1 - Tickle Toe

(Lester Young)

2 - Jumpin' At The Woodside

(Count Basie)

3 - September Song

(Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson)

4 - Avalon

(Vincent Rose, Buddy DeSylva, Al Jolson)

5 - Over The Rainbow

(Harold Arlen, E. Y. Harburg)

6 - Keen And Peachy

(Frank Patchen)

7 - These Foolish Things

(Jack Strachey, Eric Maschwitz)

8 - Dickie's Dream

(Count Basie, Lester Young)

9 - Yesterdays

(Jerome Kern, Otto Harbach)

10 - Another Hair

(Frank Patchen)

11 - Indiana

(James F. Hanley, Ballard MacDonald)

Shorty Rogers (trumpet), Art Pepper (alto sax),

Jimmy Giuffre (tenor sax), Milt Bernhart (trombone),

Frank Patchen (piano), Howard Rumsey (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).

Recorded live at The Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, California, January 6, 1952

Lighthouse All-Stars Collection XVIII ★ with Art Pepper (I)

Art Pepper & Shorty Rogers

Complete Lighthouse Sessions

Nothing better illustrates this post than Ted Gioia's book, "West Coast Jazz". 

In the chapter "From the Lighthouse" — where he recounts the history of the cafe — there's a section titled "The dropping-off station", where he mentions this recording, comparing it to the first in the series released by the Contemporary Coast Jazz label:

The Lighthouse, for all its eventual fame, was a challenging — and often exasperating — jazz venue. The long hours were legendary, the quarters cramped and incommodious, the audience frequently loud and disrespectful. The musicians responded, however, with a positive energy that was often surprising, given the inclement surroundings. Jimmy Giuffre, Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne, and other Lighthouse regulars later gained renown for bringing chamber music restraint to jazz combo playing, but the early work documented in their live Lighthouse recordings shows no such cool and controlled neoclassicism. These were spirited blowing dates with no holds barred, as rambunctious and unpredictable as the turbulent surf waves outside the door. Even Giuffre, arguably the king of cool understatement (he later mastered the technique of constructing a whole solo from an extended, pitchless, breathy sound), often worked up an uncharacteristic sweat when playing on Pier Avenue.

The initial Lighthouse album on Contemporary captured precisely this informal spontaneity. From the riff-like swing of the opening number, Jimmy Giuffre's "Four Others", to the crowd-rousing finale, an extended jam on the same composer's "La Soncaille", the All-Stars take off on the musical material at hand with considerable abandon. This band was loaded with arrangers, but its charts were mostly bare bones and at times even nonexistent. Hampton Hawes's noteworthy work on "All the Things You Are" is a case in point: There is no apparent arrangement or elaborate game plan here, just a quartet blowing its way through one of the oldest standards in the book. Yet Les Koenig found the results memorable enough to give Hawes a contract with Contemporary.

An earlier private recording of a Lighthouse session featuring Shorty Rogers and Art Pepper (later released on the Xanadu label) reveals an even more free-wheeling ensemble. In fact, the music recorded here might seem to be completely at odds with the personnel. Supported by a rhythm section consisting of Rumsey, Patchen, and Manne, Pepper and Rogers led a veritable West Coast all-star band. But the music taken down by Bob Andrews's portable Pentron recorder is New York bebop plain and simple. Tearing through "Scrapple from the Apple", "Cherokee", "Tin Tin Deo", and other East Coast standards, the front line was driving hard — and clearly driving under the influence of Bird and Dizzy. Here again the Lighthouse setting roused the musicians to a higher level of intensity than was their wont. The change was not always for the better — sometimes the Lighthouse performances took on a ragged quality — but the music more often captured an infectious spark that many of these musicians rarely matched elsewhere. 

This 1951 club recording isn't going to excite audiophiles — the quality is iffy, having been accomplished with a hobbyist's portable recorder — but for serious fans of saxophonist Art Pepper and the West Coast jazz school, it's a rare treat. Both Pepper and trumpeter Shorty Rogers had only recently departed Stan Kenton's Orchestra when they found themselves gigging with the group that would eventually develop, sans Pepper, into the Lighthouse All Stars featuring drummer Shelly Manne, pianist Frank Patchen, and bassist Howard Rumsey. Although many of the tunes are standards such as "Robbins Nest", "Scrapple from the Apple", "Body and Soul" and "Cherokee", the light, airy sound that would come to typify the West Coast school is already in clear evidence. Pepper, whose prior recording history had been limited to big band sides, proves himself a confident master in the small group setting, and this performance is among his finest. Trumpeter Rogers, who would later earn a reputation as a superb arranger and composer, gives an indication of what's to come with his bluesy "Popo". *Fred Goodman*

Off note:

There are two versions of this recording. The one presented here is the more recent 2001 edition, although it also includes the artwork from the original Xanadu Records release.

It should also be noted that the title "Complete Lighthouse Sessions" is somewhat misleading, since in 1996 Vantage Record Company issued another concert by the same two musicians, recorded only ten days after the performance presented here.

But that will be the subject of the next post.

1 - Popo

(Shorty Rogers)

2 - What's New?

(Bob Haggart, Johnny Burke)

3 - Lullaby In Rhythm

(Clarence Profit, Edgar Sampson, Benny Goodman)

4 - All The Things You Are

(Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II)

5 - Robbins Nest

(Illinois Jacquet)

6 - Scrapple From The Apple

(Charlie Parker)

7 - Body And Soul

(Johnny Green, Edward Heyman, Robert Sour)

8 - Jive At Five

(Harry Edison)

9 - Tin Tin Deo

(Gil Fuller, Chano Pozo)

10 - Cherokee

(Ray Noble)

Shorty Rogers (trumpet), Art Pepper (alto sax),

Frank Patchen (piano), Howard Rumsey (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).

Recorded live at The Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, California, December 27, 1951