Zardi’s 1954. 1954 provided a cornucopia of modern jazz for Los Angeles jazz fans. In addition to booming business at the city’s leading jazz clubs, jazz impresarios Gene Norman and brothers Norman and Irving Granz staged sell out concerts to meet the growing demand for modern jazz. Gene Norman continued to wear several musical […]
Continue ReadingBob Brookmeyer
World Pacific 1957 New York Sessions
This research originally appeared in the Dutch discography journal, Names & Numbers, No. 82, July 2017, in slightly different form and content. The January 23, 1958, issue of Down Beat published a notice in the opening “strictly ad lib” New York column that summarized a series of recording sessions that took place in December, 1957, […]
Continue ReadingTiffany Club – 1953 – Part One
Tiffany Club had a stellar lineup during the first six months of 1953 – Nat “King” Cole – Billie Holiday – George Shearing – Dinah Washington – Johnny Hodges – Earl Bostic and others.
Continue ReadingJohnny Mandel & Dick Bock
Johnny Mandel had a noteworthy role in the early success of Dick Bock’s Pacific Jazz label. From February of 1954 until August of 1958 Mandel’s composing/arranging hand embellished eleven albums.
Continue ReadingJack Lewis / East Coast
Jack Lewis produced the RCA Victor Jazz Workshop series of albums while head of A&R in New York.
Continue ReadingThe Haig – Part Three
The halcyon days of the original Gerry Mulligan Quartet at the Haig with a packed house and patrons waiting patiently in lines that stretched up to Wilshire Boulevard were long gone at the beginning of 1954. The small capacity of the club made it difficult to turn a profit when competing clubs like Zardi’s and […]
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