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AJ Shank
How Bud Shank Invented Surf Music
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In 1966, just before the country went psychedelic and the place to be was off the grid and deep in the woods, there was the beach. The passing this week of Mike Hynson—star of that year's cult surf film The Endless Summer, produced and directed by Bruce Brown—took me back to my childhood. When I was a kid in the early 1960s, going to New York's Jones Beach was excruciating. It was a place where mothers slathered kids in Coppertone, ...
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Bud Shank and Three Trombones
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Bud Shank was among the most recorded West Coast jazz reed players. He was on more than 600 known sessions, according to Tom Lord's Jazz Discography. Heard most often on alto saxophone, Bud began his recording career in 1947 with Ike Carpenter and then with Charlie Barnet in 1948 before joining Stan Kenton's Innovations Orchestra in 1950. He left the band with Shorty Rogers and others in 1952 to pioneer a more swinging West Coast jazz style in small ensembles, ...
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Bud Shank: Shorty Rogers, 1954
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
If you're looking for an introduction to West Coast jazz or simply want the pure stuff, Bud Shank's recordings for the Pacific Jazz label in the 1950s are a great place to start. Bud had a sterling, aggressive sound on the alto saxophone, with the feel of a sports car pulling away from the curb. His albums for Pacific Jazz wisely teamed him with top like-minded Los Angeles talent, including Shorty Rogers, Bill Perkins, Bob Cooper, Claude Williamson and others. ...
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Jazz Vocalist Kendra Shank And Guitarist John Stowell Release Extraordinary Duo Album New York Conversations April 8 On TCB – The Montreux Jazz Label
Source:
Michael Bloom Media Relations
There are a million jazz stories in the naked city, and New York Conversations captures some of the most revelatory ones. An extraordinary encounter between the supremely inventive vocalist Kendra Shank and the brilliant guitarist John Stowell, a player with a beautiful touch and rarified harmonic vocabulary who specializes in high-wire duo projects, the album came together quickly, with a minimum of planning. While Shank and Stowell’s musical friendship dates back more than two decades, New York Conversations is their ...
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Vibraphonist-composer Dave Shank Assembles Veteran Crew For His Latest Swinging Quintet Offering, "Soundproof"
Source:
Michael Ricci
On Soundproof (to be released September 27th by Rhombus Records), vibraphonist Dave Shank showcases ten new compositions that feature the highly interactive, swinging interplay of a stellar quintet comprised of bassist John Patitucci, pianist Barry Miles, drummer Terry Silverlight and saxophonist Mike Migliore. From start to finish, Shank and his veteran crew exhibit a remarkable chemistry with a penchant for collective improvisation in the moment. Sparks fly on all the solo choruses throughout, but it's the remarkable cohesion of the ...
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Dave Shank Quintet - Soundproof (2011)
Source:
Something Else!
There is often a West Coast cool this recording, thanks largely to the smoothly energetic phrasings of vibraphonist Dave Shank. That's not to say, however, that Soundproof doesn't have its moments of fiery interplay. Check Saxophonist Mike Migliore (Maynard Ferguson, Bob Belden, Count Basie) as he spars interestingly with Shank on the spiky title track. Shank even flashes a few nifty Milt Jackson-ish bop moves on “Snoopin,'" which was inspired by the late composer-keyboardist Don Grolnick. The suite-like “A Minor ...
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Bud Shank's Last Recording: Jake Fryer's "In Good Company"
Source:
Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
If there is still a west coast kind of jazz it's because players associated with the west coast still play music. That's obvious, of course, but even in its heyday the west coast style covered a broad group of stylistic tendencies, from the cool of a Chet Baker to the heat of Hampton Hawes. Bud Shank leaned toward to cooler alto style in his first years, making some marvelous records. Sometime in the '70s his style changed and he began ...
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Capri Records Releases Jake Fryer's New CD "In Good Company" Featuring Bud Shank, Mike Wofford, Bob Magnusson & Joe La Barbara
Source:
Nancy Hudgins
Last Recording Date for Shank, Who Passed Away The Day After Recording When the British saxophonist Jake Fryer walked out of Studio West in San Diego on April 1st 2009 after completing this recording In Good Time (Capri Records, January 18, 2011), he couldn't have imagined that Bud Shank would not have survived another day. Bud went home the day after the recording and passed away a few hours later. “The last words Bud said to me with a warm ...
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Jake Fryer/Bud Shank Quintet - In Good Company (2011)
Source:
Something Else!
By Pico Just prior to kickoff for the Fiesta Bowl played the other day between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Connecticut Huskies, the sad story was told about the starting UConn cornerback who was senselessly stabbed to death during the prior football season. The night before to his murder, Jasper Howard and his teammates celebrated a big victory over conference rival Louisville and the following day, just hours before his death, the 20 year old junior left behind a quote ...
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Bud Shank: Windmills of Your Mind
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In the mid-'60s, Bud Shank recorded a string of albums in Los Angeles for World Pacific Jazz that were West Coast attempts to capitalize on rock, pop and the new movie music. These recordings included Michelle, A Spoonful of Jazz, California Dreamin,' Light My Fire, Music from Today's Movies, Magical Mystery and Let It Be. One of the most glorious efforts in this groovy genre was Bud's Windmills of Your Mind (1969). What I love about Bud on these recordings ...
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