Lighthouse All-Stars Collection XI

Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars

Jazz Structures

This album represents a fundamental turning point and, in many ways, the conclusion of the canonical corpus of the Lighthouse All-Stars recordings. Although it fits chronologically into the Lighthouse All-Stars Collection series, its nature demands a dual interpretation: on one hand, it belongs to the band's main line; on the other, as Howard Rumsey himself did not participate as a session musician, the record functions as a natural heir to the Lighthouse Series that the All-Stars produced for the Liberty label.

Unlike the recordings captured in the effervescent atmosphere of the club in Hermosa Beach, Jazz Structures sought an almost "architectural" clarity. To achieve this, Rumsey moved the project to United Recording Corp. in Hollywood. Under the technical direction of Bill Putnam, the studio environment allowed for a technical precision impossible to reach in a live setting, capturing Bob Cooper’s complex arrangements with absolute fidelity. The use of specialized microphones and the controlled acoustics of United Recording provided this work with a unique sonic texture within the group's discography.

It is worth noting that while this album marks the end of a formal era, the legacy of the Lighthouse All-Stars — with or without Howard Rumsey in their ranks — extends through many more recordings. Much of that material, generally recorded live and featuring top-tier special guests (Miles Davis, Art Pepper, Stan Getz), is currently scattered across official releases and valuable unreleased recordings that we will be discovering in the near future.

It was over 12 years ago that bassist Howard Rumsey left the Stan Kenton Orchestra and, in his own words, "decided to find a permanent home for the music of jazz on the west coast". Today, the Howard Rumsey All-Stars, based at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, California, are internationally famous. As Stan Kenton says today: "Much credit must go to Rumsey as a pioneer and an enlightened promoter for the best in jazz". For the past five years, composer-tenorist Bob Cooper (or "Coop" as he is affectionately known) has been a leading member of Rumsey's Lighthouse group.

"Les Novros, head of Graphic Films, wanted to have jazz as the background music for his A BUILDING IS MANY BUILDINGS picture", Howard Rumsey tells. "This is a color documentary film showing the construction of the new Union Oil building in downtown Los Angeles".

"Novros wanted mostly improvisation originally", Rumsey continues. "I arranged for Bob Cooper to do the score and he took off like a bird. 'Coop' was so impressed by the calibre of the film that he went a lot further, musically, than we had planned".

"The score is a mixture of classical and jazz", Rumsey concludes, "and I think that 'Coop' really outdid himself!". (from the liner notes)

One of the most exciting jazz bands of the musically fertile '50s and '60s, Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars performed a wide variety of styles ranging from standard bebop and post-bop to the cool West Coast style. The band also included several first-rate arrangers and composers, with Jimmy Giuffre and Bob Cooper receiving special mention. The band also included many of the top musicians of the West Coast jazz scene that boasted the likes of Conte Candoli, Frank Rosolino (who are featured here), Bud Shank, Bill Perkins, Victor Feldman and Stan Levey, to name but a few. This particular release showcases the versatility of this exciting group. Jazz Structures reveals both the complexity of the compositions and precision of the arrangements. All of the charts were written, arranged and conducted by Bob Cooper. The album features the music that Cooper scored for Les Novros documentary A Building Is Many Buildings, where the construction of the new "Union Oil Building" in Los Angeles is described in this film. *Jordi Pujol*

Side 1

1 - Genesis (Pt. II)

2 - Architectonics

Directional Suite 

3 - Introduction

4 - a) Impulse

5 - b) Automatons

6 - c) Impulsion (Pt. 1)

7 - c) Impulsion (Pt. 2)

Side 2

Directional Suit

(continued)

8 - d) Complexus

The Worker 

9 - a) Rain Blues

10 - b) In The Morning

11 - c) Quittin' Time

12 - Edifice

(All compositions by Bob Cooper)

#1 to #8 and #10:

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

Buddy Collette (bass clarinet [#2], baritone sax [#1, #3 to #8]),

Bud Shank (alto sax [#1,#8 ], B-flat clarinet [#2], flute [#3 to #8]),

Victor Feldman (piano, vibes, tambourine, conga, boo-bams and bongos [#2 to #8]),

Monty Budwig (bass), Stan Levey (drums).

#9, #11, #12:

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

Buddy Collette (bass clarinet [#9], baritone sax [#12]),

Bud Shank (alto sax [#12], alto flute [#9, #11]),

Joe Castro (piano), Larry Bunker (vibes), Red Callender (bass), Stan Levey (drums).

Howard Rumsey (leader)

Recorded at United Recording Corp., Hollywood, California,

November 21 (#1, #2), November 22 (#3 to #7) and November 29 (#8 to #12), 1960.

Note:

When analyzing the "Directional Suite" in the liner notes, the following peculiarity is noted:

""This particular music depicts workers driving little electric carts", Bob Cooper remembers. "Victor Feldman plays boo-bams here. They're a kind of tuned bongo. After more effusive drum work by Stan Levey, there's simultaneous jazz improvisation. The separation of this collective invention is particularly remarkable in the stereo version of this album".

Consequently, both versions (monaural and stereo) are presented here to

allow for comparison and to appreciate the specific sonic detail described.