Homage to Bud Shank

Bud Shank was one of the greatest alto players in the mainstream scene. Check out his website to read some obituaries that certainly will be more eloquent than what I could write here. Or read Doug Ramsey here.

Allow me a short run-down, though: Shank started out in the big band era, with Charlie Barnett and Stan Kenton, then became one of the mainstays of so-called West Coast Jazz, woring regularly with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars, and then recording a run of great albums for Pacific Jazz, with his own quartet (Claude Williamson was the pianist). He also did a fine album for Nocturne and appeared on the Brazilliance albums of guitar player Laurindo Almeida, some of the earliest attempts at fusing jazz with music from Brazil. Later on, he did some more commercial stuff (Michelle...) but continued to play and record great jazz, including being a member of the supergroup "L.A. Four", with Almeida, Ray Brown and Shelly Manne. By coincidence, just a few days before he died, I found the Concord twofer "Two By Four" (Jeff Hamilton had replaced Manne by the time those albums were made). Another highlight is his Muse album, reissued on CD by 32 Jazz as "This Bud's for You", ripe, strong playing by Shank, and a first rate rhythm section backing him: Kenny Barron, Ron Carter and Al Foster.

This post features a huge load of music. There are two later boots, but the main part of it is what Lonehill released on three volumes (4CDs) called "The Bud Shank/Bob Cooper Project". I re-grouped the music so you can get it in portions if you prefer, but I left in enough info so you can re-construct those discs if you get all the portions. I can't offer good scans at the time, but crappy photos of the covers are included.

Part one features the March and April 1957 recordings Bud Shank/Bob Cooper did with Albert Mangelsdorff and a rhythm section led by Attila Zoller on guitar. One of the three dates also featues another recently departed great, Joe Zawinul. Gary Peacock is on bass - he would show up a bit later on some of Shank's Pacific sides.
(Taken from Vols. 1 & 3)
(Use the search-function to look for several other Mangelsdorff shows here!)

Part two features the March 1958 recordings by Bud Shank/Bob Cooper with Shank's regular rhythm section headed by Claude Williamson.
(Taken from Vol. 2)

Part three compiles the fillers that we so often get with Lonehill's "complete" editions. These include: a 1956 Shank quartet recording from NYC with Russ Freeman, the 1956 appearance in Bobby Troup's "Stars of Jazz" TV show by the Bud Shank quartet, one title with Shank/Cooper and the Lighthouse All Stars from 1958, and most important, a recording Shank did in May 1957 with Hans Koller, Mangelsdorff, Attila Zoller, Roland Kovac, Gary Peacock and Karl Sanner.
(Taken from Vols. 1 & 2)
(Use the search-function for more Hans Koller postings!)

Here's more info, hope it's all readable...







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And finally, the two great boots - the first has Shank with Pete Christlieb on tenor and a rhythm section headed by Rein de Graaff, the second is just in quartet, with a first-rate British rhythm section.

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Bud Shank Quintet
Rastede (Germany)
February 10, 1988

Bud Shank - alto sax
Pete Christlieb - tenor sax
Rein de Graaff - piano
Marius Beets - bass
Eric Ineke - drums

1. Stage Intro RdG (1:44)
2. (13:27)
3. (14:55)
4. For Heaven's Sake (9:42) [omit BS]
5. Star Eyes (11:15)

TT: 51:05

Sound: A
Source: Soundboard
Lineage: sbd > ? > dime > EAC (secure, log included) > FLAC (8,asb,verify)

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Bud Shank
Eastleigh, Hampshire (UK), Concorde Club
June 1994

Bud Shank - alto sax
David Newton - piano
Dave Green - bass
Martin Drew - drums

1. The Night Has a Thousand Eyes (12:38)
2. Embraceable You (13:51)
3. A Time for Love (11:22)
4. Limehouse Blues (10:08)

TT: 47:59

Sound: A-

Recorded on open-reel tape at 7.5ips. split into tracks with Adobe Audition.
FM>Analogue open-reel>WAVE>FLAC

This is a tape of a BBC broadcast from the Concorde Club, Eastleigh, with
Bud in fine form, accompanied by a British trio including David Newton,
better known outside the UK as Stacey Kent's accompanist, Dave Green on
bass and Martin Drew, drums, nowadays Oscar Peterson's touring drummer of
choice.