Jazz Articles about Shelly Manne

Jazz on the West Coast: The Lighthouse

by Tom Greenland
November 11, 2006

Jazz On The West Coast: The Lighthouse Rose King Productions 2006 Jazz on the West Coast: The Lighthouse is a time capsule/oral history of the legendary Southern California venue active throughout the '50s. A collaboration between impresario John Levine and bassist/musical director Howard Rumsey, the Hermosa Beach club became the hotspot of the cool school, regularly featuring such artists as Hampton Hawes, Teddy Edwards, Shelly Manne, Shorty Rogers, Buddy Collette, Jimmy Giuffre, Gerry Mulligan, ...

Shelly Manne & His Men At The Black Hawk

by David A. Orthmann
April 23, 2004

Two decades after Shelly Manne's untimely death at the age of sixty-four, the unassuming artistry of the once popular bandleader and widely recorded sideman is largely overlooked, if not forgotten. Manne's utilitarian drumming contains elements from stylists ranging from Dave Tough, to Papa Jo Jones, to Kenny Clarke. Befitting a musician who spent his formative years playing with ensembles of all kinds and participating in jam sessions instead of practicing rudiments and licks by himself, his drumming doesn't clamor for ...

Shelly Manne & His Men: Yesterdays

by David A. Orthmann
December 29, 2003

Shelly Manne & His Men Yesterdays Pablo 2003

Shelly Manne, who died suddenly of a heart attack on September 26, 1984, left behind an impressive body of recorded work as a leader and sideman. Like Dave Tough, one of his formative influences, Manne was a musician first and drummer second. Evincing an unusually nuanced approach to the trap set, he had no interest in technique for its own sake, instead tailoring his ...

Shelly Manne & His Men: Yesterdays

by Russell Moon
December 13, 2003

Shelly Manne took his Men on a European tour with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic organization in the winter of 1960. Along the way, Granz recorded the quintet's February 22 (Zurich) and March 2 (Copenhagen) gigs. Manne was a Contemporary Records artist at the time; however, Fantasy Records has acquired the rights to both Granz's recordings and the Contemporary catalogue, so these dates can today be issued without record company conflict.

Fantasy has released five songs from the two ...

Shelly Manne & His Friends: Li'l Abner

by Derek Taylor
March 19, 2003

Breaking stride with many of his jazz contemporaries, Shelly Manne always had an ear attuned toward popular entertainment. In the 1950s, Broadway musicals, film scores and television shows were the fodder of the day--and the drummer regularly mined these sources for material. The Contemporary label was ready and willing to release the results of these jazz-commercial music hybrids. Just reference the clutch of Manne-led dates that yielded albums such as My Fair Lady, Peter Gunn and the recently reissued Checkmate. ...

Shelley Manne and his Friends: Modern Jazz Performances of Songs From Li'l Abner

by David Rickert
March 15, 2003

Sometimes mediocre albums can be more frustrating than lousy albums, simply because one can see the possibility of a great performance lurking behind the clouds. Shelley Manne certainly could have followed his best-selling jazz adaptation of My Fair Lady with a better choice than Li’l Abner, a lackluster musical with a Broadway run shorter than the playing time of the album.

The indifference with which the public greeted it should come as no surprise; Li’l Abner features ...

Shelley Manne: Plays Checkmate

by David Rickert
December 18, 2002

One would hardly think that music for television would form a solid basis for improvisation, being largely incidental music meant to set scenes rather than draw in the ear. However, Johnny Williams (the same John Williams who later created memorable music for Star Wars and the Harry Potter movies) was a composer who was able to transcend the usual boundaries of the small screen to create some memorable little themes that worked quite well apart from the show.