West Coast Jazz Box
Various Artists
While West Coast jazz provided some of the most indelible images associated with improvisational music, the music itself was far more varied and adventurous--as well as more resonant--than critical consensus has been willing to concede. The 61 tracks in this 4-CD anthology provide a continuously engaging big picture of all of the improvisational happenings on the Pacific Coast from 1950 through the mid-Sixties.
To be sure, West Coast Jazz became the most widely-popular jazz style since the halcyon days of Swing in the late 1930s because of such tuneful golden boys as Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan, cerebral cats like Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond, and peerless melodists on the order of Stan Getz--all of whom are included herein. But the umbrella term AWest Coast@ here covers Central Avenue (main drag of black Los Angeles' pulsating night life) as well as Hermosa Beach (home base of bassist Howard Rumsey's legendary Lighthouse jazz club), San Francisco's North Beach, or the thriving Hollywood studio scene that provided lucrative employment for some in the Southern California jazz set.
From the pure bop of the dueling tenor men Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray to the roaring big band of Stan Kenton (an incubator of Cool); from exotic chamber jazz (Chico Hamilton, featuring Eric Dolphy) to scorching hard hop (the Curtis Counce Group); from the first rays of bossa nova (Brazil's Laurindo Almeida with Bud Shank) to the shape of jazz to come (Ornette Coleman), plus visiting East Coast stars (Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, John Lewis) and so much more, The West Coast Jazz Box provides proof positive of jazz's universality.
TRACKLISTING
DISC ONE
- 1. Move
- 2. Intermission Riff
- 3. Bright Boy
- 4. Body And Soul
- 5. PoPo
- 6. Swing Shift
- 7. Bernie's Tune
- 8. My Funny Valentine
- 9. Stardust
- 10. Sunset Eyes
- 11. Isn't It Romantic
- 12. Maid In Mexico
- 13. Crazy Rhythm
- 14. Etude De Concert
- 15. A Night In Tunisia
DISC TWO
- 1. Blue Baiao
- 2. Aquarium
- 3. Lotus Bud
- 4. Herbstone
- 5. Fearless Finlay
- 6. Daahoud
- 7. Mamblues - Mambo
- 8. All The Things You Are
- 9. Whose Blues
- 10. Blue Sands
- 11. Keester Parade
- 12. Whippet
- 13. Get Me To The Church On Time
- 14. Get Out Of Town
- 15. Trio Blues
- 16. St. Andrews Place Blues
- 17. 2 Degrees East, 3 Degrees West
- 18. One For My Baby
DISC THREE
- 1. Pickin' 'em Up And Layin' em Down
- 2. On Green Dolphin Street
- 3. Red Sails
- 4. Way Out West
- 5. A Walkin' Thing
- 6. Rainy Night
- 7. Walkin' My Baby Back Home
- 8. Dues Blues
- 9. No Heat
- 10. Love For Sale
- 11. Katanga
- 12. Carl's Blues
- 13. Far East
- 14. The Sphinx
DISC FOUR
- 1. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
- 2. Shaw Nuff
- 3. Minor Bertha
- 4. The Fox
- 5. Indiana
- 6. Bright Eyes
- 7. Viva Tirado
- 8. Something Blue
- 9. Georgia On My Mind
- 10. Theme: A Gem From Tiffany
- 11. Together Again
- 12. Cheryl
- 13. Cast Your Fate To The Wind
- 14. For Django
JAZZ ESSENTIALS
