Lighthouse All-Stars Collection IX

Howard Rumsey

Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars

Volume 8

★ Music For Lighthousekeeping ★

Once Again I have the pleasure of writing the notes for one of my albums. A pleasure, because it gives me the opportunity to correspond with the listener and express some personal opinions.

Now that the Lighthouse and the All-Stars are firmly established (eight Contemporary Records LPs are available), I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound appreciation to the many wonderful people who have helped to make our project a success. John Levine, the owner of the Lighthouse, is first on the list — without his personal guidance I doubt very much if we ever would have got off the ground. If modern jazz ever had a friend, it is John. If there is such a thing as a West Coast movement, if it's true that an art form must have a medium before it can become a force, and if modern jazz, like all good art, requires patronage, this truly inspiring American, by way of naturalization from Canada, did much more than his share to make it all possible.

Four years with Contemporary Records have been equally inspiring. The Lighthouse and what we stand for musically are now known wherever there are jazz enthusiasts. My correspondence contains letters from tiny Ceylon to countries behind the Iron Curtain. The infinite care and personal attention that goes into the production of each of our albums is something to behold and definitely something the astute record collector can appreciate.

Since the All-Stars do not tour the nation, and I haven't missed a weekend in the Lighthouse for some time (over seven years), it took a while for the impact of our progress to reach me. A delayed reaction is sometimes the best and, believe me, we feel extremely indebted to the many, many fine friends and enthusiastic jazz followers who encourage us daily by coming to our place, or writing to let us know they are rooting for us.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the musicians who have worked with me as members of the All-Stars, as well as the ones who have appeared either as guests or off-night attractions. Last year alone, including the regular All-Stars, fifty-two musicians worked at the Lighthouse. (...)

This album was recorded on a series of Tuesday evening dates at Contemporary Records' studio, and I think you will find it just different enough from our other albums to make it interesting throughout. The material is programmed the way we might present the last set of a busy, swinging night at the Lighthouse. (...)

The All-Stars join me hoping the music in this album will make your housekeeping a whole lot lighter! *Howard Rumsey (from the liner notes)*

Music For Lighthousekeeping was Rumsey's last recording for Contemporary and includes several satisfying excursions into Latin-influenced fare. There were many liaisons between jazz and Latin styles. Perhaps Samba – with its swaying Girl from Ipanema (Stan Getz) – has worn least well – the only acceptable version of that tune being its deconstruction by Archie Shepp. But with its Cuban metronomic percussive roots, mambo has retained a more modern-retro ambiance.

This is "West Coast" jazz in geography only, as the musicians hail from all points of the American compass, and their styles echo several east coast counterparts. One of the joys of the Rumsey All-Stars band is Bob Cooper, the West Coast answer to Hank Mobley. They share the same wayward slightly-nasal tone, fleet runs with the occasional triplet slipped into a regular metre, squawks crowning bombastic figures, plaintive vibrato, bursting with ideas, the "Coop" solo spots are a rare treat.

Frank Rosolino's trombone offers a bluesy helping of Curtis Fuller, while Conte Candoli's bright peppy trumpet sways between Dorham, Morgan but ultimately Hubbard-lite, which is good. Stan Levey is Art Blakey perhaps without the thunder, but great drive, as he knocks seven bells out of his ride cymbals, giving the tweeters a good work out, speakers left dripping with audio sweat. The presence of the young Sonny Clark on this Lighthouse session is another rare bonus, his highly rhythmic comping nailing down those latin tempos, adding perfectly-paced bluesy swinging solos.

Oddly for the leader, Rumsey's bass is fairly low-key, an understated Paul Chambers. On some other Lighthouse records he disappears into the control room, leaving friend Red Mitchell and others to stand in on bass. Perhaps he sensed his strengths were as band leader, arranger, and salesman. *londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com*

This fine 1956 Contemporary recording is a timeless snapshot of the West Coast jazz scene, from one of its iconic groups. Bassist and leader Howard Rumsey ran the Lighthouse Café and was responsible for its fine jazz programming, had already been doing so for seven years at this point in time, and led his all-star group for many years. Personnel changed gradually, but one of its most durable line-ups was the current group, with the frontline of stalwarts Frank Rosolino on trombone, Conte Candoli on trumpet and Bob Cooper on tenor sax. At this time, the fine young bebop pianist Sonny Clark, soon to become a Blue Note label recording artist and leader in his own right, was in the piano chair. Drummer was a West Coast regular and bebop drum pioneer, Stan Levey. Nearly sixty years have passed since this recording, but the music remains fresh, and a fine example of the vitality of the thriving southern Californian jazz scene of the 1950s.

This group plays like a team, the frontline fits together like a glove, and the rhythm section swings tightly but in that loose kind of way that makes the group sound relaxed at all tempos. The repertoire includes three Bill Holman originals, the opener, "Love Me or Levey", structured on Harold Arlen's "Get Happy", played at a blistering tempo, with crackling trumpet from Candoli that compares well with that of the then recently departed Clifford Brown, and fine bebop solos from all. The later Holman offerings are two Latin excursions, "Mambo Las Vegas" and "Latin for Lovers", which show some of the rhythmic directions that musicians were pioneering at the time – of course, Latin rhythms then became "mainstream" in jazz from the early 1960s. Perhaps the finest tunes on this recording are the two Bob Cooper compositions – the fine ballad "Octavia" whose haunting melody is based on the wide octave interval, and the marvellous "Jubilation" (not to be confused with the Junior Mance tune of the same name), which is a beautifully-arranged and well-paced, up-tempo tune on which all the players have a chance to excel.

Bob Cooper's playing is as good as his best on this recording, his tone and phrasing are tremendous, and display the full range of his sounds from the sensuous to the hipper, harder-swinging, more assertive sound on the faster items. Rosolino shows his energetic, virtuosic and tasteful trombone solo style at every opportunity, Candoli's bebop lines are fluid and fast. Sonny Clark swings throughout as he always did, comping sympathetically and soloing confidently, particularly on his own up-beat blues, "I Deal", in which he stretches out, playing seamlessly across the 12 bar form.

Rosolino and Clark, two of jazz's finest and most distinctive players, were tragic figures who died prematurely, but with plenty of fine recordings under their belt. Cooper and Candoli remained active and very productive in jazz into their seventies, Levey ultimately veered into his parallel career, photography. Howard Rumsey's distinguished career as bassist, organiser of festivals, club owner went on for decades and he was the last survivor from this session, passing away early in 2015 at 97 years, shortly after a tribute festival in his honour by the Los Angeles Jazz Institute. This is one recording that cements his place as a major figure in West Coast jazz, and deserves to be in everyone's collection. *simonjp (amazon.com)*

1 - Love Me or Levey

(Bill Holman)

2 - Taxi War Dance

(Lester Young, Count Basie)

3 - Octavia

(Bob Cooper)

4 - Mambo Las Vegas

(Bill Holman)

5 - Jubilation

(Bob Cooper)

6 - I Deal

(Sonny Clark)

7 - Latin For Lovers

(Bill Holman)

8 - Topsy

(Eddie Durham, Edgar William Battle)

Conte Candoli (trumpet), Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Frank Rosolino (trombone),

Sonny Clark (piano), Howard Rumsey (bass), Stan Levey (drums). 

Recorded at Contemporary's Studio, Los Angeles, California, October 2, 9 and 16, 1956