Lighthouse All-Stars Collection XXX ★ Closing The Circle

Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars

Jazz Invention

40th Anniversary Reunion Concert

With this post, we reach the 30th post dedicated to legendary recordings made at the Lighthouse Cafe and those released by Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars, with the bassist himself, bringing to a close a series that has meticulously traced the memory of both this iconic club and the group that defined West Coast jazz. And there is no better sense of closure for this cycle than this recording.

Celebrating four decades since the birth of the sound that put Hermosa Beach on the map was no ordinary occasion: it called for bringing the architects of that legend back to the stage. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the very first notes played at the legendary club, the Lighthouse All-Stars reunited for a concert filled with emotional significance and deep meaning.

Although time had left its mark and the lineup was not quite that of the golden years—marked by the notable absence of Howard Rumsey on bass, as well as the irreplaceable loss of key figures like trombonist Frank Rosolino and drummer Shelly Manne—the spirit of the band remained intact. The reunion featured a formidable lineup: Bob Cooper on tenor saxophone, Bud Shank on alto, Conte Candoli on trumpet, Bob Enevoldsen on valve trombone, Claude Williamson on piano, Monty Budwig on bass, and John Guerin on drums.

With this chapter, we bring a grand finale to the series. However, in the world of jazz—where the record industry can always surprise us with the discovery of an unreleased recording by the Lighthouse All-Stars from their golden era in the 1950s—we prefer to call it a "Finale (For Now)", leaving the door open to whatever the archives might reveal in the future...

Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars, formed in 1949, were probably the earliest sign that a new jazz centre was emerging, their mix of ex-Herman and ex-Kenton, as well as other California-based musicians forming the kernel of what would soon be all the rage as West Coast Jazz.

This happy reunion marked the 40th anniversary of that coalescence and, in so doing, sets at least one new standard for future reference; not only is this virtually the same line-up that recorded the group's first 12-inch IP (Rumsey's bass, Stan Levey's drums and the late Frank Rosolino's trombone are subbed), but the cover photograph is a 40-year-on mirror image of the original, posed on the same part of Hermosa's beach.

That aside, 40 years have made their music more robust, more obviously passionate, as witness the cooking climax to "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise", where the Shank/Cooper chase sequence excitingly telescopes into polyphony; or Mr Enevoldsen's swaggering reading of "That Old Feeling"; or the rocking "Broadway", which reveals the style's antecedents more clearly, perhaps, than even "Jazz Invention" or "Bernie's Tune", which most sharply focus on their salad days. All in all, there is a spirit in this music which transcends the merely recollective, probably because, rather than attempt to recall an increasingly distant past, these men are reinterpreting it through styles that have developed and grown. Bob Cooper could not have played a convincing "Gee, Baby" in the old days; he makes a moving job of it now, as does Bud Shank with his deeply-felt "Lover Man". It all adds up to a rewarding album. *Chris Sheridan (from Jazz Journal)*

1 - Jazz Invention

(Bob Cooper)

2 - Bernie's Tune

(Miller, Leiber, Stoller)

3 - Lover Man

(Davis, Ramirez, Sherman)

4 - Woody'n You

(Dizzy Gillespie)

5 - Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise

(Hammerstein, Romberg)

6 - That Old Feeling

(Brown, Fain)

7 - Broadway

(Woode, McRae, Bird)

8 - Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good To You

(Razaf, Redman)

9 - Topsy

(Battle, Durham)

10 - Billie’s Bounce

(Charlie Parker)

Bob Cooper (tenor sax, music director), Bud Shank (alto sax),

Conte Candoli (trumpet), Bob Enevoldsen (valve trombone),

Claude Wiliamson (piano), Monty Budwig (bass), John Guerin (drums).

Recorded live at Hermosa Civic Theatre, Hermosa Beach, California, February 12,1989