Lighthouse All-Stars Collection XVII ★ September 13, 1953

Based on Witch Doctor and At Last!, presented in previous posts, it is possible to begin reconstructing the historical significance of what took place on September 13, 1953 at the Lighthouse Café: a Sunday that would later be recognized as one of the most extensively documented in the club’s history, even if those initial releases only captured fragments of the day’s activity.

What follows here comes closer than any previous release to that full picture: a near-complete document of the Lighthouse's activity from opening to closing time.

First, it marked the only known attempt to record an entire day at the Lighthouse. Significantly, the day had not even been planned as a recording session: according to producer Ed Michel, the documentation came about largely by chance. The tapes made by Cecil Charles Spiller —labeled "Crazy Sunday"— together with the parallel recordings by Donald Dean, preserve nearly seven hours of non-overlapping material, covering the full span from 2:00 pm to 2:00 am. Spiller, a jazz enthusiast and photographer who frequently brought his monaural tape machine to the club, was responsible for the primary location recordings. Rather than a conventional session, it captured the continuous flow of a typical Sunday: shifting lineups, guest appearances, and evolving repertoire.

This particular Sunday also marked the debut of a new Lighthouse All-Stars lineup, led by Howard Rumsey, following the departure of key figures such as Shorty Rogers, Jimmy Giuffre, Frank Patchen, and Shelly Manne. The new group featured Rolf Ericson, Bud Shank, Bob Cooper, Claude Williamson, and Max Roach, and was still working through largely unrehearsed material.

A decisive factor was the presence of guests, including Miles Davis and Chet Baker. Their meeting —later framed through the lens of a supposed rivalry— has become one of the most frequently cited aspects of the day. Yet, according to Howard Rumsey, the atmosphere was far more relaxed than legend would suggest.

The alleged tension had a concrete background. In 1953, Davis had not yet reached the stature he would soon attain, while Baker was enjoying heightened visibility following his work with Gerry Mulligan and his emergence as a "new star" in Down Beat polls. Reports circulated —never fully verifiable— suggesting that Davis viewed Baker as an imitator of his style and resented the attention he was receiving. Over time, this narrative solidified into a widely accepted account of friction between the two. Still, the available evidence remains fragmentary, and it is impossible to determine with certainty what actually transpired between them that day.

What can be established is that they did share the bandstand, albeit briefly and only partially documented: the surviving fragment of "Get Happy" captures Baker beginning a solo immediately after Davis. Baker then departs, and the set continues. This detail challenges the long-standing claim that the two never played together that day.

LA Jazz Institute Presents

The Complete Crazy Sunday At The Lighthouse

September 13, 1953

The new All-Stars made their Sunday debut on September 13, 1953, and a packed house showed up to hear the new group.

By this time the Sunday Jazz Concert hours had expanded with a start time of 2:00pm and an end time of 2:00am, with an hour break for dinner at 6:00.

The special guests hired by Rumsey for this occasion were Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Herb Geller and Lorraine Geller. Jimmy Giuffre, Russ Freeman and Shelly Manne all came back to appear in somewhat of a ceremonial transition from the old group to the new. Howard remembered Mingus being there and playing some intermission piano.

Contemporary Records decided to try another live recording, and sent Cecil Charles (Spiller) back once again to capture the days proceedings. On the original tape boxes he wrote the phrase "Crazy Sunday" which is how he perceived the events of the day.

In reality it wasn't all that crazy. It was just a typical Sunday in a long line of Sunday concerts at the Lighthouse.

Howard Rumsey recalled "To me it was a nervous day trying to do business and record at the same time. Plus it was a new band and we were playing lots of unrehearsed material which was new to them." (...)

The original recordings were planned for Contemporary Records but were shelved soon after and not released. There are a variety of factors that led to that, which included the fact that Miles was under contract with Prestige, Chet was under contract with Pacific, and Howard thought it was too soon to be recording the new group. They were not familiar with the music yet and needed more time to gel.

Some of these recordings finally saw the light of day in the 1980's when a few of the tracks were released on two LP's. Everything else has remained un-issued. 

Luckily Howard Rumsey had a set of nine reels that were the original Cecil Charles (Spiller) recordings made that day and now reside in the Howard Rumsey Collection at the Los Angeles Jazz Institute. There is roughly about five hours of material on the Charles reels. (...)

All in all it's pretty close to the entire Sunday session, and as close as we will ever get to being able to experience what happened each and every Sunday at the Lighthouse. You will notice that there are several titles played more than once. They are all different. (...)

There are three bonus tracks at the end of disc 4 that feature the new All-Stars with Chet Baker as the added guest. The personnel matches disc 1 and 2 of this collection. These are three orphan tracks that only have the date listed as September 1953. It's a reasonable assumption that these are more tracks recorded on September 13. The group is the same, the ambiance is the same, and they were recorded by Cecil Charles. It's unlikely Chet and Charles both returned the next week, so I would guess they are probably from the same date. Since we don't know for sure we are treating them as bonus tracks.

The first four discs are the Cecil Charles Spiller recordings in the order they exist on each tape reel.

Discs five and six are the Donald Dean tapes in the order they were recorded.

The Complete Crazy Sunday is a very important historical document and we are happy to be able to share it with you. *Ken Poston (from the liner notes)*

Although the presence of major guest artists undoubtedly contributed to the energy of the performances, the sheer quantity and overall quality of the music produced that day remain remarkable. It would be misleading to assume that every Sunday reached this level, yet these recordings clearly reflect the consistency of the band. In fact, the solos documented on September 13, 1953 rank among the most creative and compelling preserved in the All-Stars’ recorded output.

Now, at last, what was recorded on that September 13 —for decades scattered, partially issued, or simply unavailable— can be heard in near-complete form thanks to one of the most ambitious restorations of this material: the 6-CD collection The Complete Crazy Sunday at the Lighthouse – September 13, 1953, released in 2023 by the Los Angeles Jazz Institute.

Carefully assembled from fragmentary sources, it offers an unprecedented opportunity to experience a full Sunday at the Lighthouse as it actually unfolded—continuous, imperfect, and ultimately irreproducible.

*CD 1*

1 - Funnyfied

(Giuffre)

2 - Bean Bag (a.k.a. Beau Boy = a.k.a. Loki)

(Rogers)

3 - Out Of Somewhere

(Giuffre)

4 - Loaded

(Miller)

5 - I'll Remember April

(de Paul, Johnston, Raye)

6 - My Funny Valentine

(Rodgers, Hart)

7 - Maid In Mexico

(Freeman)

8 - At Last

(Gordon, Warren)

9 - Winter Wonderland

(Bernard, Smith)

10 - Pirouette

(Rogers)

#1, #2:

Rolf Ericson, Chet Baker (trumpets); Bud Shank (alto sax);

Bob Cooper (tenor sax); Claude Williamson (piano);

Howard Rumsey (bass); Max Roach (drums).

#3, #4, #5:

Rolf Ericson, Chet Baker (trumpets); Bud Shank (alto sax);

Jimmy Giuffre (tenor sax); Russ Freeman (piano);

Howard Rumsey (bass); Max Roach (drums).

#6:

Jimmy Giuffre (tenor sax), Russ Freeman (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#7:

Rolf Ericson, Chet Baker (trumpets); Bud Shank (alto sax);

Jimmy Giuffre (tenor sax); Russ Freeman (piano);

Howard Rumsey (bass); Max Roach (drums).

#8, #9:

Chet Baker (trumpet), Russ Freeman (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#10:

Rolf Ericson, Chet Baker (trumpets); Bud Shank (alto sax);

Bob Cooper (tenor sax); Claude Williamson (piano);

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

✤✤✤✤

*CD 2*

1 - Jazz Invention

(Cooper)

2 - Which Doctor

(Cooper)

3 - Get Happy (incomplete)

(Arlen, Koehler)

4 - Infinity Promenade

(Rogers)

5 - Night In Tunisia

(Gillespie)

6 - 'Round Midnight

(Monk)

7 - Drum Conversation

(Roach)

8 - Down For Double

(Green)

9 - Maid In Mexico

(Freeman)

#1, #2:

Rolf Ericson, Chet Baker (trumpets); Bud Shank (alto sax);

Bob Cooper (tenor sax); Claude Williamson (piano);

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

#3:

Rolf Ericson, Miles Davis, Chet Baker (trumpets); Bud Shank (alto sax);

Bob Cooper (tenor sax); Lorraine Geller (piano);

Howard Rumsey (bass); Max Roach (drums).

#4, #5:

Rolf Ericson, Miles Davis (trumpets); Bud Shank (alto sax);

Bob Cooper (tenor sax); Lorraine Geller (piano);

Howard Rumsey (bass); Max Roach (drums).

#6:

Miles Davis (trumpet), Lorraine Geller (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#7:

Max Roach (drums).

#8, #9:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Herb Geller (alto sax), Bud Shank (alto sax),

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

✤✤✤✤

*CD 3*

1 - Love Letters

(Young, Herman)

2 - Dickie's Dream

(Basie, Young)

3 - Adios

(Madriguera, Woods)

4 - Fascinatin' Rhythm

(Gershwin, Gershwin)

5 - Love Letters

(Young, Herman)

6 - Limehouse Blues

(Braham, Furber)

7 - Solitaire

(Russo)

8 - Just A Few

(Rogers)

9 - Lover Man

(Ramirez, Davis, Sherman)

10 - It's Only A Paper Moon

(Arlen, Harburg, Rose)

11 - Canonade

(Cooper)

12 - Lullaby Of The Leaves

(Petkere, Young)

13 - Strike Up The Band

(Gershwin, Gershwin)

14 - Witch Doctor

(Cooper)

#1, #2:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Herb Geller (alto sax), Bud Shank (alto sax),

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass); Max Roach (drums).

#3, #4, #5, #6:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Bud Shank (alto sax),

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Milt Bernhart (trombone),

Claude Williamson (piano), Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#7:

Milt Bernhart (trombone),Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#8:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Bud Shank (alto sax),

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Milt Bernhart (trombone),

Claude Williamson (piano), Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#9, #10:

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

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#11:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Bud Shank (alto sax),

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Milt Bernhart (trombone),

Claude Williamson (piano), Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#12, #13:

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#14:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Bud Shank (alto sax),

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Milt Bernhart (trombone),

Claude Williamson (piano), Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

✤✤✤✤

*CD 4*

1 - The Nearness Of You

(Carmichael, Washington)

2 - Tickle Toe

(Young)

3 - Funnyfied

(Giuffre)

4 - Cool Fool

(Cooper)

5 - Dickie's Dream

(Basie, Young)

6 - Out Of Nowhere

(Green, Heytman)

7 - Glidin' Along

(Giuffre)

8 - Beau Boy (a.k.a. Bean Bag = a.k.a. Loki)

(Rogers)

9 - Four Others

(Giuffre)

#1, #2:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#3, #4, #5:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Bud Shank (alto sax, baritone sax),

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Milt Bernhart (trombone),

Claude Williamson (piano), Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#6:

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#7, #8, #9:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Chet Baker (trumpet), Bud Shank (alto sax),

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

✤✤✤✤

*CD 5*

1 - Down For Double

(Green)

2 - Funnyfied

(Giuffre)

3 - Lullaby Of The Leaves

(Petkere, Young)

4 -Coming Through The Rye Bread

(Rogers)

5 - I May Be Wrong

(Sullivan, Ruskin)

6 - April In Paris

(Duke, Hayburg)

7 - After You've Gone

(Layton, Creamer)

8 - I'll Remember April

(de Paul, Johnston, Raye)

9 - Morgan Davis

(Rogers)

#1, #2:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Herb Geller (alto sax),

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#3:

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#4, #5:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Herb Geller (alto sax),

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#6, #7:

Herb Geller (alto sax), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#8, #9:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Herb Geller (alto sax),

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

✤✤✤✤

*CD 6*

1 - Strike Up The Band

(Gershwin, Gershwin)

2 - Woody 'N You

(Gillespie)

3 - The Nearness Of You

(Carmichael, Washington)

4 - Drum Conversation

(Roach)

5 - Cool Fool

(Cooper)

6 - Afrodesia

(Rogers)

7 - Dickie's Dream

(Basie, Young)

8 - These Foolish Things

(Strachey, Maschwitz)

9 - Taking A Chance On Love

(Duke, La Touche, Fetter)

#1:

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#2:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Herb Geller (alto sax),

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#3:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#4:

Max Roach (drums).

#5 to #9:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Herb Geller (alto sax),

Bud Shank (alto sax, baritone sax), Bob Cooper (tenor sax),

Lorraine Geller (piano), Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

✤✤✤✤

Lighthouse All-Stars Collection XVI ★ with Miles Davis

Miles Davis

And

The Lighthouse All-Stas

At Last!

This and the companion album recorded for a competing label (Contemporary) captures a magical September day in 1953. The companion album is titled Witch Doctor and is more focused on Chet Baker's performance that day.

The reason I have this album five stars, aside from the historic value and the superb playing, is the sound quality. It's not spectacular, but is surprisingly good for a live performance using 1953 recording technology and techniques. Listen to the sound samples and you will hear that the mix is very good - each instrument is where it should be - and the overall quality is more than adequate to enjoy this live performance.

The first three tracks are a continuation from the companion album I mentioned above. Miles seems to have taken over from Chet by accompanying Rolf Ericson on trumpet with Bud Shank on alto and baritone sax and Bob Cooper on tenor sax completing the front line. The rhythm section is Lorraine Geller on piano, Howard Rumsey on bass and Max Roach on drums.

On track 4 Max Roach treats to a four plus minute drum composition. I am not going to call it a solo because it has melodic qualities that Max perfected and is more focused on musical values than the bombastic showmanship most drummers display when given a solo spot.

The final track features Chet Baker backed by Russ Freeman on piano, Howard Rumsey on bass and Max Roach on drums.

This album was recorded for the Fantasy label at Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach, CA on September 13, 1953. It's a rare glimpse into a West Coast institution (Rumsey's lighthouse) as well as a glimpse into the early and nascent years of West Coast jazz.

*Mike Tarrani (amazon.com)

In 1953, Miles Davis sat in one Sunday afternoon at the Lighthouse. No big deal; lots of people sat in at the Lighthouse, and Davis was no more famous than most and less famous than many. Fame, big fame, was two or three years away for Miles. There was no compelling reason to issue the recordings made that afternoon. Les Koenig probably figured he had more interesting All-Stars material in the can, so the tapes sat around for three decades. And when they emerged, guess what: they were interesting, not just historically but musically. Miles solos on classics by Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie and on a Shorty Rogers original that has an affinity for Tadd Dameron's "Good Bait". The other tracks are an intriguing drum solo by Max Roach and a lovely ballad by guests Chet Baker and Russ Freeman. This was not just another Sunday at the Lighthouse. *milesdavis.com*

Off note:

His three performances here represent the entire Miles Davis set, except for an opening "Get Happy", on which the tape machine was turned off after the first five minutes (catching only the opening trumpet and a rather nice alto solo). Miles played the entire set on a borrowed horn, and without a mute. 

"Drum Conversation," a drum solo by Max Roach, concluded the set. (Actually, on the session tape it is followed by an unidentified woman beginning to sing "That Old Black Magic"; mercifully, the tape machine was turned off almost at once. Things seem to have been pretty loose on Crazy Sunday.) The musicians left on a dinner break. The Chet Baker—Russ Freeman—Rumsey—Roach quartet version of "At Last" which closes the album was actually a part of the set preceding Davis's. Baker seems not to have ever recorded the tune, either before or since, certainly not during his West Coast period. *Ed Michel (from the liner notes)*

1 - Infinity Promenade

(Shorty Rogers)

2 - 'Round Midnight

(Bernie Hanighen, Cootie Williams, Thelonious Monk)

3 - A Night In Tunisia

(Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)

4 - Drum Conversation

(Max Roach)

5 - At Last

(Harry Gordon, Mack Warren)

#1, #2, #3:

Miles Davis, Rolf Ericson (trumpets); Bud Shank (alto sax,baritone sax [#3]);

Bob Cooper (tenor sax); Lorraine Geller (piano);

Howard Rumsey (bass); Max Roach (drums).

#4:

Max Roach (drums).

#5:

Chet Baker (trumpet), Russ Freeman (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass) , Max Roach (drums).

Recorded live at The Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, California, September 13, 1953

Lighthouse All-Stars Collection XV ★ with Chet Baker

Chet Baker

And

The Lighthouse All-Stars

Witch Doctor

Why this live performance set in the can for thirty-two years is a mystery to me. It set in the vault until it was finally released in 1985. Better late than never. This features very early Chet who is accompanied by the who's who of West Coast jazz. In fact as you run through the sound samples you will clearly hear that this is anything but the stereotypical, 'cool' music we are led to believe epitomized that style. The entire ensemble is on fire.

As you listen to the sound samples you will hear a bump or distinct shift on the last two tracks. That is because there was a personnel shift in which Bob Cooper replaces Jimmy Giuffre on tenor sax in the front line and the pianist and drummer are replaced by Claude Williamson and Shelly Manne respectively.

The core tracks feature a front line comprised of Baker and Rolf Ericson on trumpet, Bud Shank on alto and baritone sax and Jimmy Giuffre on tenor sax. The rhythm section features Russ Freeman on piano, Howard Rumsey on bass and Max Roach on drums.

This album was recorded for the Contemporary label at Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach, CA on September 13, 1953. There is another album, recorded for the Fantasy label, that was recorded at the venue on the same day with an expanded line-up that is also worth checking out: At Last! *Mike Tarrani (amazon.com)*

Recorded live at the famous Lighthouse club in Hermosa Beach, California this LP finds Baker playing well, if not very consistently, and features a shifting group behind him that includes, on various tracks, saxophonists Bud Shank, Bob Cooper, and Jimmy Giuffre; pianists Russ Freeman, and the underrated Claude Williamson. "The Lighthouse All-Stars" included Howard Rumsey on bass and drummers Max Roach and Shelly Manne. The sound quality is fair and the playing occasionally gets a little bit sloppy — Baker's solo work on "Pirouette" is especially dodgy — but there are some moments of real inspiration, including the band' s boppish uptempo reading of "Winter Wonderland" and Manne's inventive percussion on the Latin-flavored Cooper composition "Witch Doctor". There are better introductions to the Lighthouse sound, but this album is sure to please Chet Baker fans. *Rick Anderson (allmusic.com)*

Off note:

This album is a companion volume to At Last! Miles Davis and the Lighthouse All-Stars, recorded on the same Sunday afternoon in September 1953, part of a glorious day-long session at The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, California (the tape boxes were marked "Crazy Sunday", which tells one something).

This group's set closed with with Bob Cooper's "Witch Doctor", which the Lighthouse All-Stars would record in Contemporary’s studio in October and again in concert performance at Laguna in June 1955. The present version features solos by Rolf Ericson, Bud Shank, Baker, and Claude Williamson, under which Bud can be heard on maracas, Bob on claves, and Rolf on cowbell.

Following the break, the next set would feature sitters-in Miles Davis and pianist Lorraine Geller. The results can be heard on the album At Last! *Ed Michel (from the liner notes)*

1 - Loaded

(Bernard Miller)

2 - I'll Remember April

(Gene de Paul, Patricia Johnston, Don Raye)

3 - Winter Wonderland

(Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith)

4 - Pirouette

(Shorty Rogers)

5 -Witch Doctor

(Bob Cooper)

Chet Baker, Rolf Ericson (trumpets); Bud Shank (alto sax, baritone sax);

Jimmy Giuffre [#1, #2], Bob Cooper [#3,#4, #5] (tenor saxes);

Russ Freeman [#1,#2, #3], Claude Williamson [#4, #5] (pianos);

Howard Rumsey (bass); Max Roach [#1,#2, #3], Shelly Manne [#4, #5] (drums).

Recorded live at The Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, California  September 13, 1953

Lighthouse All-Stars Collection XII

In the remaining chapters of our Lighthouse All-Stars series, we'll go straight to where the magic happened. The albums we have left to present are live recordings, captured right there in that Pacific sanctuary known as the Lighthouse Café.

If you think about it, the story is incredible. Picture Howard Rumsey—who had been playing with Stan Kenton—walking along the Hermosa Beach boardwalk in 1949 and stepping into a somewhat gloomy, nautical-themed bar that had almost no customers. The owner was John Levine, a millionaire and obsessive gambler who had recently purchased the place. When Rumsey pitched the idea of playing jazz, Levine was blunt: he told him that Sunday afternoons were the worst possible time to sell liquor. But Rumsey, who already had his eye on a grand piano Levine had installed, stood his ground and asked for a chance to prove that the music would bring in the crowds.

For that first Sunday on May 29, 1949, Rumsey recruited the most powerful musicians he could find in the city. They threw the front doors wide open and, to Levine's surprise, the place packed out immediately. The display of talent from those soloists was so immense that the group's name was born right then and there: the Lighthouse All-Stars. That single bet transformed a nearly non-existent beach bar into the epicenter of the West Coast scene for the next 22 years.

What you will hear in these recordings isn't that "anaemic" jazz that some critics used to associate with California; this music has muscle. Rumsey was a strategist who systematically refused to take the band on tour because he wanted the club to be a place of pilgrimage. He forced everyone, from Hollywood stars to record label executives, to drive down to Hermosa Beach just to see what was happening on that bandstand. The club eventually became the perfect haven for musicians who, tired of the road, were looking to play top-tier jazz and finally settle down under the sun.

Everything happened on that stage. It is said that even Charlie Parker himself showed up one day and stayed for two hours playing tenor sax. For the club's history, this happened, and it remains one of its most sacred anecdotes; even if for the official discography it remains a "myth" without physical evidence, the legend is an inseparable part of the atmosphere there. As you listen to these tracks, you will hear the clinking of the cash register and the murmur of a crowd that sometimes attended in their swimwear. It is, quite literally, the sound of jazz history being recorded as it unfolded in front of the waves.

To open this final part of the series, we will focus on three extremely special and hard-to-find volumes, released by the Los Angeles Jazz Institute (LAJI).

The LAJI is more than just an institution; it is the sanctuary that guards the memory of West Coast Jazz. Thanks to their preservation efforts, they have rescued unissued recordings that would have otherwise vanished. These first three albums I am presenting are exclusive editions, originally released only for Institute members. They are true treasures capturing intimate and vibrant moments at the club—recordings that aren’t found through regular commercial channels and have become genuine collector's items today.

It is truly a pity that, due to the very nature of these highly restricted archive editions, the blog cannot secure all of these recordings to share with all of you. Accessing this material is almost a task of musical archaeology; they are records that remain, for the most part, reserved for members or for those collectors lucky enough to stumble upon a stray copy. Nevertheless, the value of these three volumes is immeasurable in understanding what was actually happening on the Lighthouse stage when the cameras and major labels weren't watching.

Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars

Modern Jazz a la Lighthouse

The Los Angeles Jazz Institute, under the guidance of Howard Rumsey, has been granted permission to relaunch The Lighthouse Record Company.

The Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach, California was the symbolic headquarters of the West Coast Jazz movement of the 1950s and Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars became one of the most important groups of the decade. Sundays at the Lighthouse became a Southern California tradition because of the legendary marathon sessions that took place every week with visiting guest musicians augmenting the All Stars lineup.

Our first "members only" release features several different eras of the Lighthouse All Stars recorded live over a five year period. Many of these recordings took place during Sunday sessions at The Lighthouse so a variety of guest artists are included as well.

This is an important historical document which displays the significant role that the Lighthouse played in the development of modern jazz in Southern California and we are happy to be able to share it with you. *Ken Poston (from the liner notes)*

Note:

The recordings on this CD come from a variety of sources, some of which were recorded under non-professional conditions. We felt however that the rarity and uniqueness of the performances precluded any flaws in the recording quality.

1 - 30 Pier Ave.

(Jimmy Giuffre)

2 - Coop De Ville

(Bob Cooper)

3 - Big Boy

(Jimmy Giuffre)

Shorty Rogers (trumpet); Jimmy Giuffre, Bob Cooper (tenor saxes); Milt Bernhart (trombone);

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

Lighthouse Cafe, March 15, 1953

4 - 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).

Lighthouse Cafe, March 15, 1953

5 - What's New

(Bob Haggart)

Maynard Ferguson (trumpet), Hampton Hawes (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Shelly Manne (drums)

Lighthouse Cafe, June 21, 1953 

6 -Lester Leaps In

(Lester Young)

Harry "Sweets" Edison, Shorty Rogers (trumpets); Jimmy Giuffre, Bob Cooper (tenor saxes);

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

Lighthouse Cafe, June 21, 1953

7 - Funnyfied

(Jimmy Giuffre)

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Herb Geller (alto sax),

Claude Williamson (piano), Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

Lighthouse Cafe, September 13, 1953

8 - No Socks

(Howard Roberts)

Stu Williamson (trumpet); Zoot Sims, Bud Shank (tenor saxes); Claude Williamson (piano);

Howard Rumsey (bass); Stan Levey (drums); Jack Costanzo (conga).

Lighthouse Cafe, November 28, 1954

9 - Now I Lay Me Down To Dream

(Ted Fiorito)

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

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

ABC TV Studios, Hollywood, California, September 3, 1956

10 - Gal In Calico

(Robin, Schwartz)

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

Dick Shreve (piano), Howard Rumsey (bass), Stan Levey (drums).

Lighthouse Cafe, 1957

11 - Evening In Paris

(Victor Feldman)

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

Victor Feldman (piano, vibes), Howard Rumsey (bass), Stan Levey (drums).

Lighthouse Cafe, 1958

12 - Lighthouse Commercial • Confirmation • Topsy

(Charlie Parker) • (Eddie Durham, Edgar Battle )

KMLA's "Night Life" Broadcast from Lighthouse Cafe,1957

Lighthouse All-Stars Collection V

Howard Rumsey

Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars

Volume 4

★ Oboe / Flute ★

The Bob Cooper-Bud Shank oboe-flute duets started at The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, California, the experimental center of West Coast modern sounds, in December, 1953.

This was the first time the jazz possibilities of the flute and oboe had been explored, and public response was instantaneous and enthusiastic. The popularity of the duets indicated a recording session, and since no suitable body of literature existed for the combination, the performers sat down and wrote six of the eight tunes released in the Spring of 1954 as 10" long-playing C2510. These eight selections: Aquarium, Warm Winds, Night In Tunisia, Albatross, Still Life, Bags' Groove, Hermosa Summer, Happy Town, were recorded the afternoons of February 25th and 26th, 1954 with BOB COOPER, oboe & English horn; BUD SHANK, flute & alto flute; CLAUDE WILLIAMSON, piano; HOWARD RUMSEY, bass; and MAX ROACH, drums.

The original album was an unqualified success, and in the three years since its release, the oboe-flute duets have been a fixture at The Lighthouse, and the flute a generally accepted jazz instrument.

By September 25th, 1956, when Waikikian, A Bit Of Basie, Swing House, and Blue Sands were recorded, Bud Shank had left The Lighthouse to form his own group. BUDDY COLLETTE, the versatile master of six woodwinds (see his Contemporary 12" C3522: Man Of Many Parts), took over the flute chair as guest star. SONNY CLARK and STAN LEVEY, both regular members of the All-Stars, were present on piano and drums. *(from the liner notes)*

The oboe and flute duets by Bob Cooper and Bud Shank have become quite a tradition at the Lighthouse, one of the few remaining jazz spots in the Los Angeles area these days. The eight selections by these two, Cooper doubling on English horn, were recorded in 1953 and were previously issued on Vogue LDC 146.

Personally I don't much care about the thin emasculated tone of flutes and oboes as applied to jazz, though I can appreciate the musical worth and fine technique of both players in this instance. All the same, except for "Albatross", which swings neatly with some nice piano from Claude Williamson and "Bags' Groove", it all sounds like arty-crafty film background music.

The remaining selections were recorded in 1956 by Buddy Collette, also on flute, plus rhythm section. Though the conception is similar in some cases to the previous session, I find these very much more acceptable in a jazz sense, and Buddy to be much the most talented musician of the three.

"A Bit of Basie" features Sonny Clark at the piano and both this and "Swing House" reveal Buddy’s considerable technique more than adequately. *Peter Tanner (jazzjournal.co.uk)*

This fascinating record features Bob Cooper and Bud Shank/Buddy Collette (fl, alto-fl) exclusively with piano, bass, and drums. Since the sessions are from two different years, the rhythm section is not completely the same on both. The 1954 session, which comprises most of the album, features the renowned drummer Max Roach and Shank on flute. This album came out of many off the cuff oboe and flute duet improvisations that Cooper and Shank were famous for at The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, CA. The album is the epitome of "West Coast" jazz from this era, and the tracks are mostly originals, with a couple of more standard tunes ("Night in Tunisia" and "Bag's Groove") thrown in for good measure. This recording is significant because it is definitely one of the earliest, and possibly the first instance of the oboe taking a leading role in jazz. Prior to Bob Cooper, an oboist might take center stage for part of a tune, or possibly even an entire tune, but never an album devoted to specifically jazz oboe. This recording is also important because it features prominent jazz players who were well known in their own time, and continue to be recognized as influential in jazz. *Kimberly Everett Ganong [from A History and Discography of the Oboe in Jazz])*

1 - Aquarium

(Claude Williamson)

2 - Warm Winds

(Bob Cooper)

3 - A Night In Tunisia

(Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)

4 - Albatross

(Max Roach)

5 - Blue Sands

(Buddy Collette)

6 - Swing House

(Gerry Mulligan)

7 - Still Life

(Bob Cooper)

8 - Bags' Groove

(Milt Jackson)

9 - Hermosa Summe

(Bob Cooper)

10 - A Bit Of Basie

(Buddy Collette)

11 - Waikikian

(Bob Cooper)

12 - Happy Town

(Bud Shank)

#1, #2, #3, #4, #7, #8, #9, #12:

Bud Shank (flute, alto flute), Bob Cooper (oboe, english horn),

Claude Williamson (piano), Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums).

Recorded at Contemporary's Studios, Los Angeles, California,

February 25 (#1, #2, #3, #4) and 26 (#7, #8, #9, #12), 1954

#5, #6, #10, #11:  

Buddy Collette (flute, alto flute), Bob Cooper (oboe, english horn),

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

Recorded at Contemporary's Studios, Los Angeles, California, September 25, 1956.

Lighthouse All-Stars Collection IV

Howard Rumsey

Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars

Volume 2

★ Sunday Jazz A La Lighthouse • Vol. 2 ★

This was the first 10-inch LP released by Contemporary, and one of the most popular of the many Lighthouse All-Stars albums from the 1950s. It has been continually requested by fans, but never been reissued on compact disc until now. Recorded as the West Coast movement was kicking into high gear, it captures the enthusiasm of the young players at the center of the Southern California jazz scene, the good-natured encouragement and enjoyment of the Lighthouse audience, and the interaction between musicians and listeners. The original selections feature Howard Rumsey, Shorty Rogers, Russ Freeman, Jimmy Giuffre, Bob Cooper, Milt Bernhart, and Shelly Manne. Three previously unissued performances by a different edition of the All-Stars include Chet Baker sitting in with Rolf Ericson, Bud Shank, Claude Williamson, Max Roach, Cooper, and Rumsey. Musicians and patrons are laughing and grooving, the cash register is ringing, and the atmosphere is full of good feeling. This is West Coast jazz in full bloom. *concord.com*

The first six tracks are the original title album that was recorded live for the Contemporary label at the Lighthouse on May 15, 1953. The front line is comprised of Shorty Rogers on trumpet, Milt Bernhart on trombone, and Bob Cooper and Jimmy Giuffre on tenor sax. The rhythm section features Russ Freeman on piano, Howard Rumsey on bass and Shelly Manne on drums.

Basically this is more of a jam session than a planned recording, and the energy is definitely pouring from this album. I'll admit that the sound quality is not stellar, but it's also not terrible. I still awarded five stars because this is truly the birth of the West Coast jazz sound. However, there is a healthy dose of East Coast influence in the music because the West Coast style was just evolving.

If you are familiar with Shorty Rogers work in the 1950s these tracks are stamped with his signature sound, which seems to dominate any ensemble in which he is playing.

The final three tracks are from a live session at the Lighthouse that was recorded for Contemporary on September 13, 1953. These tracks were intended for albums titled Chet Baker And The Lighthouse All-Stars - Witch Doctor and Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars - Mexican Passport, but did not make the release. They feature a front line of Chet Baker and Rolf Ericson on trumpet and Bud Shank on alto sax. The rhythm section features Lorraine Geller (tracks 7 and 9) and Claude Williamson (track 8) on piano, Rumsey on bass and Max Roach on drums. These tracks have a more definite West Coast jazz feel although they were only recorded four months after the first six tracks. *Mike Tarrani (amazon.com)*

1 - Luau

(Shorty Rogers)

2 - Comin' Thru The Rye Bread

(Shorty Rogers)

3 - Taking A Chance On Love

(Duke, Fetter, LaTouche)

4 - The Big Top

(Jimmy Giuffre)

5 - The Duke You Say!

(Jimmy Giuffre)

6 - Sunset Eyes

(Edwards, Wayne)

7 - Glidin' Along

(Jimmy Giuffre)

8 - Beau Boy

(Shorty Rogers)

9 - Four Others

(Jimmy Giuffre)

#1 to #6:

Shorty Rogers [as Name Whithheld] (trumpet); Jimmy Giuffre, Bob Cooper (tenor saxes);

Milt Bernhart (trombone); Russ Freeman (piano);

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

#7, #8, #9 (previously unreleased):

Chet Baker, Rolf Ericson (trumpets); Bob Cooper (tenor sax); Bud Shank (alto sax);

Lorraine Geller [#7, #9], Claude Williamson [#8] (piano);

Howard Rumsey (bass); Max Roach (drums).

Recorded live at The Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach, California,

May 15 (#1 to #6) and September 13 (#7 to #9), 1953

Five-Star Collection... Howard Rumsey (Lighthouse All-Stars Collection I)

Howard Rumsey

Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars

Volume 3

In this long-playing set Contemporary presents the three basic groups of All-Stars which made The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach the center of West Coast Jazz and a Mecca for jazz enthusiasts the world over. The notes which follow were written for Contemporary's ten-inch long playing release (C-2506) containing the recording sessions of July 22, 1952 and October 20, 1953. The third session of August 2, 1955 has not been released previously.

The key men of the first major group, Shorty Rogers, Jimmy Giuffre and Shelly Manne, after two years at The Lighthouse, left in 1953 to form Shorty Roger's Giants. (In the fall of 1955 Shelly Manne left the Giants to form his own group). The key men of the second and third All-Stars, Bob Cooper, Bud Shank, and Claude Williamson, continued for three years (1953 through 1955) and were responsible for such highly successful experiments as the flute and oboe duets (Contemporary C-3520).(...)

It was at the Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach that modern jazz first became really popular on the West Coast. Yet when Howard Rumsey started his jazz concerts there in 1948, the smart money said he wouldn't last a week. Hermosa Beach is more than 20 miles away from Hollywood. Who would travel that far to listen to modern jazzmen who were unknown to the general public?

Rumsey's plans seemed all the more hopeless since modern jazz was having a hard time in much more accessible places than Hermosa Beach. In order to develop, jazz needs devoted, understanding listeners. The all-important contact between modern jazz and a wide, enthusiastic audience had yet to be established. There had been many previous attempts to launch the movement, and they had all been partial or complete failures. A few years before the Lighthouse sessions, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker had played their new music in a Hollywood night club. They had been heard by a handful of musicians, and practically nobody else. In succeeding years, modern jazz on the West Coast became increasingly cultist and sectarian, talented musicians were experimenting in the isolation of their little cliques, and it seemed the entire movement would vanish with the inevitable crumbling of these ivory towers.

It was at this point that Howard Rumsey began his concerts at the Lighthouse. The most remarkable thing about Howard was his conviction that modern jazz could also be popular jazz, and that this could be accomplished without concessions or compromises. His policy was to ignore the meaningless divisions between the various modern jazz groups, to bring together the finest available instrumentalists and writers, and to transform the Lighthouse into a workshop where their music could be heard by large audiences. Howard's tenacity and his immense gifts as an organizer overcame both the incredulity of the musicians and the apathy of the public. Starting slowly, he kept working at his idea until he succeeded in having great modern jazzmen on his bandstand, and enthusiastic crowds in the Lighthouse to listen to them.

The Lighthouse is in a constant state of musical activity and experimentation. There are always new works in progress, new arrangements being tried out, new ideas for solos. Every musician on the bandstand is vitally concerned with communicating his music to eager audiences. The bored jazzman who condescends to play down to his listeners, or the unhappy jazzman who complains about being misunderstood, are both fortunately absent. The excitement at the Lighthouse is so contagious that some of the members of the All-Stars who had never written music before began to study composition and have developed into first-rate composer-arrangers.

*Nesuhi Ertegun (from the liner notes)*

A particularly impressive demonstration of the modern jazz School of Southern California (Hermosa Beach division). It's a five-starrer because this time the generally inventive writing aids rather than constricts the blowing. As usual, the level of musicianship is consistently elevated.

Side one (July, 1952) has Rogers, Bernhart, Giuffre, Cooper, Patchen, Manne, Rumsey (and Carlos Vidal on Zapata). The even better second side (October, 1953) includes Cooper, Shank, Rumsey, Max Roach, altoist Herb Geller, pianist Claude Williamson, trumpeter Rolf Ericson, and Jack Costanzo on two. Ericson has never sounded better on records, Manne and Roach are wonderful, Vidal and Costanzo help greatly on the south-of-Los Angeles scenes.

The diversity of the sides is also stimulating — from the tribute to the Mexican revolutionary through Giuffre's tender Somewhere and the mildly ironic rhythm and blueser Big Girl. Two superior frameworks are Cooper's Jazz Inventionand Giuffre's arrangement of Love Letters. I wish those two particularly hadn't been restricted to the conventional time limits. Engineers Val Valentin and John Palladino should get a bonus after this. I'd like to know what mike setup and what kind of mikes were used. *Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, February 10, 1954 [5 stars])*

1 - Swing Shift

(Shorty Rogers)

2 - Out Of Somewhere

(Jimmy Giuffre)

3 - Mexican Passport

(Bob Cooper, Bud Shank)

4 - Big Girl

(Jimmy Giuffre)

5 - Viva Zapata! No. 1

(Shorty Rogers)

6 - Mambo Los Feliz

 (Shorty Rogers)

7 - The Song Is You

(Jerome Kern)

8 - Jazz Invention

(Bob Cooper)

9 - Snap The Whip

(Bob Cooper)

10 - Love Letters

(Young, Heyman)

11 - Witch Doctor No. 1

(Bob Cooper)

#1, #2, #4, #5:

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

Bob Cooper, Jimmy Giuffre (tenor saxes);

Frank Patchen (piano); Howard Rumsey (bass);

Shelly Manne (drums); Carlos Vidal (conga drums [#5]).

Recorded at Radio Recorders' Annex, Los Angeles, California, July 22, 1952

#6, #8, #10, #11:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Milt Bernhart (trombone [#6]),

Herb Geller (alto sax), Bud Shank (alto sax, baritone sax),

Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Claude Williamson (piano),

Howard Rumsey (bass), Max Roach (drums), Jack Costanzo (bongos [#1, #4]).

Recorded at Capitol Melrose Studios, Studio A, Los Angeles, California, October 20, 1953

#3, #7, #9:

Frank Rosolino (trombone); Bud Shank (flute, alto sax), Bob Cooper (oboe, tenor sax),

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

Recorded at Capitol Melrose Studios, Studio A, Los Angeles, California, August 2, 1955

⁂

Why the subtitle "Lighthouse All-Stars Collection"? 

Between 1952 and 1957, Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars produced the core of their most significant recorded output: a series of studio and live performances that not only documented the ongoing activity at the Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach, but also fixed on record one of the most active modern jazz scenes of the decade.

During those years the ensemble functioned less as a fixed band than as a platform organized by Howard Rumsey: a stable nucleus with constant rotation of personnel, a permanent residency, and a repertoire in continuous development. Musicians such as Shorty Rogers, Jimmy Giuffre, and Shelly Manne passed through its ranks, establishing the Lighthouse as one of the central points of modern jazz activity in California.

Most of the principal recordings of this period — largely made for Contemporary Records — coincide with the years in which critical discourse began solidifying labels such as "West Coast Jazz". Heard today, however, these sessions reveal a language fully embedded in the broader current of modern jazz, in constant dialogue with what was simultaneously taking place in New York.

For that reason, and given that between 1952 and 1957 several of the group’s central "opuses" were recorded — including the volume presented here — Outlet Jazz deliberately takes a slight detour.

Without abandoning the collection of five-star Down Beat recordings, a parallel thread is inaugurated here: Lighthouse All-Stars Collection.

The order of presentation will not strictly follow the original release chronology. This first installment corresponds to Vol. 3, selected circumstantially because of its place within the five-star series. In forthcoming entries, the earlier volumes — Vol. 1, Vol. 2 — as well as the subsequent ones will be addressed, with the aim of reconstructing the group’s discographic sequence in full.

This detour is not a rupture, but an expansion of perspective — a way of observing the Lighthouse phenomenon in its historical continuity rather than exclusively through the filter of a critical rating.

⁂

Five-Star Collection... Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker Memorial • Vol.1

CHARLIE PARKER was born in Kansas City, August 29, 1920. He played baritone saxophone in his school band and accumulated his experience with the orchestras of Lawrence Keyes and Harlan Leonard. In 1937 he joined Jay McShann with whom he came to New York in 1942. "BIRD" left McShann to work with Kenny Clarke and Thelonious Monk at Minton's and Clark's Uptown House. Soon after he blew with Noble Sissle for about a year and then he joined the Earl Hines Orchestra which featured Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Harris and Billy Eckstine. In 1944 he joined the fine Billy Eckstine Band and, at this time, he cut his first session which, we are proud to say, is on Savoy records.

One of the greatest chapters in Jazz came to a close on Saturday, March 12, 1955 when CHARLIE PARKER passed away, stricken with bronchial pneumonia and a greater blow to Jazz was never dealt. We in Jazz will never forget the "BIRD" and because we feel that you, the Jazz audience, may not have had the opportunity to know the "BIRD" as well as you would have liked to, we are releasing all of his unreleased versions of his most famous compositions.

Along with these new versions and short takes, we include some of the original masters to try to give you a more complete musical description of CHARLIE PARKER's recording sessions and also to give you a greater insight of his work. Also heard herein is some conversation between CHARLIE PARKER and the other musicians on the dates, which is added because we are sure you will find it as interesting as we do. *Ozzie Cadena (from the liner notes)*

This is the first of the Savoy 12" Memorial LPs. Included are several previously unreleased takes, as well as several (often more than one to a number) short takes. The comparisons are illuminating insights into the processes of improvised creation. Ozzie Cadena has clearly listed the nature of each take as well as complete personnel. Rudy Van Gelder has done a first-rate remastering job, and while this is not a hi-fi recording, as the envelope states, it's often a considerable improvement over the originals and the sound is quite clear.

Among the musicians present are Miles Davis, Duke Jordan, Tommy Potter, Max Roach, John Lewis, Curly Russell, and Bud Powell. These are taken from Bird's 1944-1948 sessions for the label, a period that saw Bird's influence on modern jazz begin to take hold firmly throughout the country and world. These records were some of the vital messengers of the new era, and they rank in musical and historical importance with the Louis Armstrong Hot Fives 20 years before.

*Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, June 1, 1955 [5 stars])*

1 - Another Hair Do (short take 1)

2 - Another Hair Do (short take 2)

3 - Another Hair Do (original take 3)

4 - Bluebird (new take 1)

5 - Bird Gets The Worm (new take 1)

6 - Barbados (new take 1)

7 - Constellation (short take 2)

8 - Constellation (new take 1)

9 - Parker's Mood (new take 1)

10 - Ah Leu Cha (short take 1)

11 - Ah Leu Cha (original take 2)

12 - Perhaps (short take 4)

13 - Perhaps (new take 5)

14 - Perhaps (original take 6)

15 - Marmaduke (short take 1)

16 - Marmaduke (new take 2)

17 - Steeplechase (original take 1)

18 - Merry Go Round (new take 1)

19 - Buzzy (short take 4)

20 - Buzzy (original take 5)

(All compositions by Charlie Parker)

Charlie Parker (alto sax) with:

#1 to #5:

Miles Davis (trumpet), Duke Jordan (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), Max Roach (drums).

Recorded at United Sound Studios, Detroit, Michigan, December 21, 1947

#6 to #18:

Miles Davis (trumpet), John Lewis (piano), Curly Russell (bass), Max Roach (drums).

Recorded at Harry Smith Studios, New York City,

September 18 (#6 to #11) and September 24 (#12 to #18), 1948

#19 and #20:

Miles Davis (trumpet), Bud Powell (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), Max Roach (drums).

Recorded at Harry Smith Studios, New York City, May 8, 1947

Five-Star Collection... Bud Powell

 ...and here we go again

At the end of last year, the story was deliberately left with The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 1 — the first five-star album in Down Beat’s modern jazz reviews. It was a natural place to pause, with a promise implied rather than stated: the sequence would resume where it inevitably led. Returning now, Outlet Jazz picks up exactly at that point, with The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2, an album that also received the magazine’s highest rating and confirmed that the earlier accolade had been no isolated judgment.

The fact that Bud Powell was the first musician to achieve the highest rating was no small detail.His emergence as a modern pianist — capable of reshaping the bebop language from the keyboard — marked a clear before and after for critics and musicians alike. That initial five-star rating did more than celebrate virtuosity; it acknowledged, in real time, the arrival of a defining voice in mid-twentieth-century jazz.

Between 1949 and 1955, Bud Powell recorded three albums that not only defined his career but also shaped the course of modern jazz piano: The Amazing Bud Powell and The Artistry of Bud Powell. The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1 (Blue Note, 1949–51) and The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2 (Blue Note, 1953) document, with remarkable clarity, the evolution of an artist who brought the language of bebop to the keyboard with unprecedented precision and intensity. The first, recorded for Alfred Lion with musicians such as Fats Navarro, Sonny Rollins, and Max Roach, displays Powell’s genius in trio, quintet, and solo formats, establishing a model that would influence an entire generation. The second volume, more introspective and focused, reveals a less explosive but more refined Powell, asserting his voice amid the personal difficulties already beginning to surround him.

Finally, The Artistry of Bud Powell (Norgran, 1954), produced by Norman Granz, offers a different perspective on the pianist. Recorded in a more controlled setting and with a polished sound, it finds Powell joined by George Duvivier, Percy Heath, and Art Taylor, revisiting standards and original compositions with a serenity that contrasts with the urgency of his Blue Note sessions. Heard together, these recordings trace Bud Powell’s creative summit: the passage from the fire of bebop to a more contained — yet no less intense — maturity, and the sound world of one of the most decisive artists of the twentieth century.

When Down Beat reviewed The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2, it did more than close the chapter opened by the first volume. The magazine used the occasion to place Powell’s recent work in a broader context, bringing The Artistry of Bud Powell into the same critical frame. Following that logic, Outlet Jazz resumes its work by addressing both albums together.

Here is how Down Beat reviewed the two albums that concern us today — The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2 and The Artistry of Bud Powell:

Two absorbing journeys (recorded this June) into the musically astonishing and troubled mind of Bud Powell. The first, made for Norman Granz, has Arthur Taylor on drums with George Duvivier and Percy Heath splitting the bass assignment. On the five standards, Bud is in an unusually gentle, reflectively passionate mood. Buttercup is a characteristically angular, intensely rhythmic original that is almost sunny in its casualness. Fantasy is more angular, more intense. (Norgran LP MG N-23)

The Blue Note program is more diversified. On this set, issued by Alfred Lion with the permission of Norman Granz, Bud was backed in August, 1953, by Taylor and the amazing Duvivier (amazing not only in his too long underrated bass artistry but in his ability to communicate so fully with Bud, no matter how rapidly and unpredictably the latter's musical mind races). Bud involves himself with Autumn and Polka Dots here with much the same measured passion as in the Granz album.

On the other bands (but one) he is the familiarly unfamiliar Bud Powell at middle and uptempo originals and in reappraisals of standard lines. The one exception is Enclosure, the best and most stimulatingly organized Bud original yet recorded and one that shows in small area the potential of this musician for significant composition as well as influential interpretation. It is to be hoped for himself and for music that Bud soon will come back to health. Good, helpful notes for the Blue Note LP by Leonard Feather. The Blue Note is better recorded and has the better cover. Both sets are worth repeated listening. (Blue Note LP BLP 5041). 

*Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, November 17, 1954 [5 stars]*

Bud Powell

The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2

Between these covers lies the harvest of a journey through the mind of Bud Powell. It is a journey in which beauty and darkness, pleasure and sorrow are to be gleaned along the way; for this mind is a strange land, endowed with a glow of genius yet beset by illness and deprivation.

Bud Powell's career has been an erratic one, gregarious months along 52nd Street alternating with lonely months in the hospital. For all the inconsistency of his march to fame, he has managed to earn the unanimous admiration of his contemporaries and to forge an ineradicable place for himself in the international hall of jazz fame.

A year ago, on his return from a year's absence, he was approached by Alfred Lion of Blue Note Records to make his first return to the recording studios since his illness. But at that time he was enjoying two weeks' vacation between engagements at Birdland.

The session that resulted was no hasty, impromptu venture. It was the product of many meetings between Lion, Powell and Duvivier and Taylor. Each tune was selected to show a certain aspect of Bud's style, and the entire set offers a comprehensive picture of this extraordinary talent. (...)

If you know Bud Powell only by repute, or through the media of radio and night clubs, this LP is the definitive set to represent him in your collection. If you already have his earlier recordings, you will probably agree with me that in this group of performances Bud Powell is at his peak. Let us hope that today, at the age of 30, he may have a future studded with many more such achievements. *Leonard Feather (from the liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - Reets And I

(Benny Harris)

2 - Autumn In New York

(Vernon Duke)

3 - I Want To Be Happy

(Vincent Youmans)

4 - Sure Thing

(Jerome Kern, Ira Gershwin)

Side 2

5 - Glass Enclosure

(Bud Powell)

6 - Collard Greens And Black-Eye Peas

(Oscar Pettiford)

7 - Polka Dots And Moonbeams

(Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)

8 - Audrey

(Bud Powell)

Bud Powell (piano), George Duvivier (bass), Art Taylor (drums).

Recorded at WOR Studios, New York City, August 14, 1953

✳✳✳

Bud Powell

The Artistry Of Bud Powell

I've tried, in the past album brochures which I have written about Bud Powell, to describe carefully the man's playing with the man himself, because the two parts are inseparable and each is the key to the other’s personality.

I know of no other musician on the jazz scene today who is as frustrated as Bud Powell. He has so much to say and he tries so hard to say it that from time to time his efforts are too much for his body and his mind. I started to say and his spirit but I find that once seated at the piano his spirit is unquenchable. Bud loves his music and, having a natural talent for creation, something wonderful usually comes out of this marriage of creation and love. But there are too the frustrated edges which occasionally creep in, and in saying this I don't mean to derogate Bud but rather to describe him as accurately as I can, and in many ways this frustration at the edges is a kind of comment that Bud has to make about life and about his music, just as they, in turn, explain Bud.

This date was done with a great deal of preparation and Bud made it a point to practice his numbers as often and as thoroughly as he could so that he would be completely familiar with them and I think this comes through genuinely and sincerely on the sides. Bud chose all the tunes himself, and among them are the great standards, "Moonlight In Vermont", "Spring is Here" and "My Funny Valentine", and also a perfectly delightful original composition Bud made, entitled "Buttercup". The date was done in two sections and on one date we used George Duvivier on bass and on the other Percy Heath. The drummer on both dates was Art Taylor. The respect that these men have for Bud is evident, as is their own contribution on the date.

This, then, is more of the creative Bud Powell. *Norman Granz (from the liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - Moonlight In Vermont

(Karl Suessdorf, John Blackburn)

2 - Time Was

(Miguel Prado, Gabriel Luna, Bob Russell)

3 - Spring Is Here

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

Side 2

4 - Buttercup

(Bud Powell)

5 - Fantasy In Blue

(Bud Powell)

6 - It Never Entered My Mind

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

7 - My Funny Valentine

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

Bud Powell (piano); George Duvivier [#1, #3, #4, 5],

Percy Heath [#2, #6, #7] (basses), Art Taylor (drums).

Recorded at Fine Sound Studio, New York City,

June 2 [#1, #3, #4, 5] and June 4 [#2, #6, #7], 1954

✳✳✳

For those who prefer digital versions, each file includes the corresponding CD which, as usual, also adds bonus tracks and alternate takes not present on the original LPs.

The compact disc Bud Powell's Moods appears here thanks to the generosity of my dear friend Melanchthon.