With the demise of the Swing Era, and bebop flaming out, jazz artists were looking for ways of putting bread on the table. Alumni from bands like Woody Herman r Stan Kenton that were tired of endless touring took to the studios. On the West Coast TV was the way to play and make a living, with NYC featuring movies and Broadway. Here are a handful of albums on a couple of discs that show how the heart of jazz could still beat.
From the Hollywood studios, California Cool was the name of the game, with Chet Baker-inspired trumpeter Jack Sheldon taking on Ray Charles’ songbook in ‘61 with Mary Paich/org, Joe Mondragon/b and John Markham/dr. Sheldon is spot on here, sweet on “Basin Street Blues” and having a hoot of a time on “One Mint Julep”. At one time Sheldon was the darling of the West Coasters, and you can see why here as he is confidently bright on “”Cherry” and lyrical on “Georgia On My Mind”. Similar sounding Cappy Lewis plays trumpet with the always reliable Jimmy Rowles/p, Morty Corb/b and Jack Sperling/dr on a 1960 session that leans towards more traditional and earliy swing. The team is feverish on ”Runnin’ Wild” and “Undecided” and quite melodic on the cutesy “C’est Si Bon” and “Umbrella Man”.
You get some of the best sax and horn players this side oof Zoot Herman and Basie on this hard swinging collection of albums put together by pianist Elliot Lawrence. The first has an all star octet with a sax section boasting Al Cohn/ts, Al Cohn/bs (!), Gene Quill/as, Urbie Green/as-cl, Hal McKusick/as, bopper Chubby Jackson/b and horn men Nick Travis/tp, Art Farmer/tp and Jimmy Cleveland/tb driven by Don Lamond/dr. Cohn swaggers on his rare chance on the bari for “Just In Time” and Quill is a thrill for “Mack The Knife” with the sax section velvety smooth on “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face” and the lover-ly “On The Street Where You Live”. The real treat, however is in the same year of 1957 when Lawrence reunites Woody Herman’s famous Four Brothers sax section of Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Herbie Stewart and Serge Chaloff for a glorious take of “Four Brothers” and “Ten Years Later” with the gents each getting a change with their Selmers. A series of the saxes trading off with drummer Lamond is an absolute hoot on “A Quick One” while the gents go back and forth like a swinging badminton team on “Four and One More”. These guys swing like a tetherball tournament!