The premises at 1608 North Cahuenga in Hollywood housed a variety of tenents prior to becoming a major jazz club on the West Coast in the 1960s. In the early 1920s the address was listed as the location for sales opportunities, one product being a slenderizing cream, just send $3.50 with the ad for your […]
Continue ReadingBud Shank
Gerald Wilson Recording Session
One of Dick Bock’s last recording sessions as president and owner of Pacific Jazz Records took place on January 13, 1965, at Capitol Records Studio “B” as he taped the initial session for Gerald Wilson’s fourth big band album. Writer Leroy Robinson was present and documented the proceedings in detail, one of the finest evocations […]
Continue ReadingShelly Manne – Evolution of a photo
The original photograph of Shelly Manne at Radio Recorder was massaged in the darkroom developing process to process an iconic image of the drummer at work.
Continue ReadingHollywood Record Room – June 15, 1961
Bobby Troup’s Hollywood Record Room on June 15, 1961, featured Paul Horn, George Greeley, and Patricia Morison.
Continue ReadingStars of Jazz/A New View 4
Don Jim was present at over three dozen broadcasts of Stars of Jazz. His 35mm color slides captured rare photos of the songbirds who appeared on the series.
Continue ReadingModesto Briseño Jr.
Modesto Briseño (1938-1965) was one of jazz’s shooting stars that blazed briefly in the 1950s and 1960s.
Continue ReadingZARDI’S – 1954
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 ReadingFRANKLY JAZZ with Frank Evans
Jazz returned to the television screen in Los Angeles in the summer of 1962. The first program was created for syndication by Steve Allen who hired Jimmie Baker to produce the shows. Baker was a veteran jazz TV producer who had been one of the creative forces responsible for the award winning Stars of Jazz […]
Continue ReadingJohnny Mandel – I Want To Live!
The producer of I Want To Live, Walter Wanger, and the featured jazz artist in the film, Gerry Mulligan, shared a common past. They both served jail time at the Sheriff’s Honor Farm in Castaic, forty miles north of Los Angeles. Wanger served three months in the summer of 1952 for shooting and wounding a Hollywood agent that he suspected of having an affair with his wife, actress Joan Bennett. Mulligan served four months in the fall of 1953 on drug charges following his arrest at The Haig earlier that spring while he and Chet Baker were performing at the club.
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 Six
The Bud Shank Quartet returned to The Haig at the beginning of 1957. The Ad Lib column in the January 9, 1957, issue of Down Beat noted that Shank’s return gave a boost to business. The same column mentioned that the Jimmy Giuffre Three spent a week at The Haig in December.
Continue ReadingThe Haig – Part Five
Bud Shank, Buddy Collette, Curtis Counce, and Art Pepper were among the jazz artists featured at The Haig during 1956.
Continue ReadingThe Haig – Part Four
Newspaper ads for the Haig in 1955 were sparse. It seems that John Bennett relied on the good graces of Down Beat for the occasional mention of who was performing at the club. The twice a month publication of the magazine required considerable lead time before each issue went to press. The “freebies” were noted […]
Continue ReadingThe Haig – Part Two
The Gerry Mulligan Quartet continued their engagement at The Haig in January of 1953. Bob Whitlock departed the quartet before Christmas and was replaced by Carson Smith, a logical choice by Mulligan as Smith had demonstrated his chops during the initial engagement at the Black Hawk in September of 1952. The quartet’s version of “My […]
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