Jazz Articles about Bud Shank

Bud Shank at Chris' Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia

by Edward Zucker
May 30, 2006

Bud Shank Chris' Jazz Cafe Philadelphia, PA May 19-20, 2006

The jazz landscape in the late 1940's and 1950's features stories of numerous musicians who died or faded away from drug abuse, alcohol abuse or misadventure. A few survivors from that era are still going strong. Altoist Bud Shank is one of them. Shank recently hit Philadelphia for two nights, touring in celebration of his 80th birthday (May 27) and in support of ...

The Bud Shank Big Band: Taking The Long Way Home

by Edward Blanco
May 29, 2006

An integral part of jazz for over sixty years, alto great Bud Shank has compiled over fifty diverse albums in his long and distinguished career. While he grew up with the Big Band Era and later, as a professional, became part of the Charlie Barnet and Stan Kenton big bands, he never desired to lead his own big band until last year at the sprightly age of 79. Upon the celebration of Stan Kenton's Neophonic Orchestra's fortieth anniversary at the ...

Bud Shank: Bouncing with Bud and Phil - Live at Yoshi's

by Ernest Barteldes
May 13, 2006

This document from a 2004 tour stop at one of the West Coast's best-known rooms finds two septuagenarian saxophone players revisiting and reshaping songs they have been performing throughout the years, often as duets. Play close attention to their rendition of Eden Ahbez's beautiful “Nature Boy, which Bud Shank introduces as a slow-tempo ballad, until the band picks up the beat and turns it into a more of a West Coast cool jazz tune. Before Charlie Byrd ...

Bud Shank Quartet With Phil Woods: Bouncing With Bud & Phil

by Michael P. Gladstone
August 26, 2005

In his liner notes to Bouncing With Bud & Phil, Doug Ramsey makes an interesting point that both of these living legend altoists are the musical offspring of Charlie Parker, even though their home bases are located in California/the Pacific Northwest and the Delaware Water Gap in Pennsylvania, respectively.

Bud Shank was recognized as a pivotal sax and flute figure in the West Coast jazz movement during the 1950s and '60s, while Phil Woods' decades of soulful playing ...

Bud Shank Quartet with Phil Woods: Bouncing with Bud & Phil - Live at Yoshi's

by John Kelman
July 26, 2005

When you think of saxophone summits, the tenor is usually what comes to mind--for example, Dexter Gordon with Gene Ammons, or more recently, David Liebman with Ellery Eskelin. Far rarer is the pairing of two alto players, but the teaming of septuagenarians Bud Shank and Phil Woods on Bouncing with Bud & Phil feels like a perfect match. Both have long histories in the bebop arena, with Shank leaning more to West Coast cool as opposed to Woods' more heated, ...

Bud Shank Quartet with Phil Woods: Bouncing With Bud & Phil: Live at Yoshi's

by Jerry D'Souza
July 12, 2005

The saying that it is never too late holds true for Bud Shank and Phil Woods. Both are now in their seventies and have notched several impressive milestones along the way. It was only in the very recent past that they came together, first on a jazz cruise and then during concerts in the USA, Holland and Canada. A live date at Yoshi's fermented the idea for a recording. The timing, however, coincided with the presence of Bill Mays and ...

Bud Shank & Phil Woods: Bouncing With Bud & Phil: Live At Yoshi's

by AAJ Staff
July 11, 2005

On Bouncing With Bud And Phil, Bud Shank, once the epitome of West Coast cool, teams up with Phil Woods for an outstanding program of fiery, heartfelt bebop. Both saxophonists are now in their seventies, but neither shows any sign of slowing down. Their playing is warm and inspired, bursting with energy and swing.

There isn't a dull moment anywhere on this album. “Minority," for example, is a master class in bebop, full of joyous, unfettered cooking by ...