Los Angeles Jazz Institute

West Coast jazz to me is the sound of slow California sunsets, nifty cars and the Pacific surf. It's feverishly contrapuntal, optimistic and catchy. It's not better or worse than East Coast jazz, just different music for another mood. Having spent weeks in California on the beaches south of Los Angeles listening to West Coast jazz recordings of the early '50s, I totally get it. There's a lot of the warm environment in those tunes.

I date West Coast jazz back to Shorty Rogers' recordings of Didi and Sam and the Lady from his Modern Sounds album for Capitol in October 1951—though his arrangement of A Mile Down the Highway with June Christy a year earlier could be a starting point as well. In both cases, the sound is unmistakably excited and relaxed, with different instruments sliding in and out on gripping melodies.

If you have the same fondness for this music as I do, you need to know about the Los Angeles Jazz Institute (LAJI) headed by Ken Poston (go here). Ken is plugged into all things West Coast and knows everyone who was and is connected with the sound and movement. The concerts he stages out there are always stunning. Just look at his October lineup on the LAJI's home page linked above (scroll down to the listing).

As for the LAJI's mission...

"The Los Angeles Jazz Institute houses and maintains one of the largest jazz archives in the world. All styles and eras are represented with a special emphasis on the preservation and documentation of jazz in Southern California. The overall mission of the Jazz Institute is to preserve, promote and perpetuate the heritage of this important American art form."

Membership is pretty cool. Not only do you get to choose a CD from the Institute's collection of rare West Coast jazz but there also are discounts on events. What's more, your dues are tax deductible, since the LAJI is a 501c3, tax exempt, public benefit corporation. (For membership information, go here.)

If you're choosing CDs, the Shorty Rogers albums from the Rendezvous Ballroom in September 1952 are precious. They feature June Christy and Hampton Hawes. Her version of Jeepers Creepers on Vol. 2 may be her best vocal rendition of this song.

I'm a lifelong New Yorker, but when summer rolls around, I pop on Johnny Richards, Dave Pell, Lennie Niehaus, Russ Freeman or Shorty Rogers, and I'm transported back to my Walkman strolls on Huntington, Hermosa and Redondo beaches in the '80s.

JazzWax clip: To get you in the mood, here's Shorty Rogers and His Giants' recording of Over the Rainbow and Popo from 1951. The group: Shorty Rogers (tp), John Graas (fhr), Gene Englund (tu), Art Pepper (as), Jimmy Giuffre (ts), Hampton Hawes (p), Don Bagley (b) and Shelly Manne (d)...

 

Comments

[Bruno Leicht]

Ah yes, Popo, Over The Rainbow, At Last ... great sounds of a long gone era.

It's wonderful that the Los Angeles Jazz Institute tries to keep it alive. "West Coast Jazz" could be sounding pretty "East Coast" by the boppin' way:

http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1036212/a/At+Last.htm

I've posted one track from the initial performance of the original Lighthouse stars Shorty Rogers & Art Pepper: Body And Soul, featuring mainly Art Pepper's softly tuned alto sax.

It's on Popo, a Xanadu LP (148), and it features - beside Pepper & Rogers - Frank Patchen on piano, and Howard Rumsey (who organized many of the concerts, and jam sessions at the Lighthouse) on bass.

The sound maybe a bit muffled, but the music is splendid. And it's really pure bebop, and has actually not much to do with the commercial labels "cool" or "west coast".

The album itself can be found frequently on eBay, and other places on the web.

We - that's Brew Lite's Lighthouse All-Stars - remembered our favorite music at a small Greek restaurant in Cologne, one week ago.

Feel free to visit my blog, and check it out.

One of my own tunes, composed in the tradition of the happiest jazz this side of heaven ;) is featured there too: Solo For Hope.

[Rab Hines]

Man, Marc, you hit the nail right on the head. I spent several months some years ago in San Clemente and Laguna Beach, and I think that the stuff you mentioned was all I listened to the entire time - with the exception of some Reggae, which fit the mood fairly often.

Thanks for the cool breeze on this hot day. Maybe I'll go listen to Shelly Manne and Joe Gordon.

[stmichrick]

LAJI events are worth noting for their resurrections of large group jazz traditions. They regularly stage authentic reunion/re-creations of those units featuring alumni as well as performances of original charts.

[Ed Leimbacher]

Some stubborn fans out here have a mantra they love to chant:

East is least;
West is best.

Me, I think about Kansas City and Chicago, New Orleans and Detroit, and say instead:

Where's it writ?
No such split.
Skip the razz;
It's all Jazz.