Shelly Manne - Boppin’ at The Black Hawk

In the early 1950s, as the big band era faded out, many of the era’s best players wound up in Southern California, where they found steady work in film, TV and as studio back up musicians for pop vocalists. Gradually, as the new vinyl LP format spread – needing ever more talent for ever more recordings – California based labels offered these musicians their own jazz dates.

The music magazines of the time in turn stoked something of a media war between “East” and “West” that completely ignored the talents of musicians on either coast. This non-existent rivalry eventually got so pathetic, that Los Angeles based drummer Shelly Manne once introduced his group with the ultimate put down of the entire sad idea, saying:

“ ...on alto saxophone, Frank Strozier from Memphis, Tennessee. On piano, Russ Freeman from Chicago, Illinois. Our trumpeter is Conte Candoli from Mishawaka, Indiana. On Bass, Monty Budwig from Penner, Nebraska. I’m Shelly Manne from New York City. We play West Coast Jazz!”

To prove his point, Manne took his then-current group to the famed Black Hawk jazz club in San Francisco in September 1959 for a three night gig that resulted in four albums worth of driving hard bop that to this day are considered among the best of the form.

After an absence of some forty years, Volume One of “Shelly Manne & His Men at the Black Hawk” has been re-released on audiophile 180 gram vinyl under Craft Recordings’ Contemporary Acoustic Sounds series.

Burning their way through over forty-five minutes of originals and jazz standards, Joe Gordon (trumpet), Richie Kamuca (tenor sax), Victor Feldman (piano), Monty Budwig (bass) and Manne on drums are all in top form producing what may be the best playing of their careers.

Volume one includes George Gershwin’s “Summertime”, Tadd Dameron’s “Our Delight”, Frank Rosolino’s “Blue Daniel” and Nat Simon’s “Poinciana”. Throughout this incredible album (and in fact the entire four volume series), everyone cooks along with an intensity matching the best that Blue Note or Prestige were recording in New York at the time.

A follow up two LP set “Shelly Manne and his Men Live at the Manne-Hole” (currently out of print) recorded in 1961 at Manne’s own Hollywood jazz club with substantially the same group, shows that the Blackhawk recordings were not some kind of fluke.

Hopefully, Craft will see fit to re-release the remaining three volumes soon and allow a previously CD-only Volume Five (also well worth seeking out) to make a long overdue first appearance on vinyl as well.

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