Pete Welding wrote liner notes for many reissues of classic West Coast sessions for a variety of record labels. His notes for the Xanadu collection, The Hampton Hawes Memorial Album, provide a snapshot of Hampton Hawes place in the emerging jazz scene in Los Angeles. Before West Coast Jazz exploded in the ears […]
Continue ReadingShelly Manne
FRANKLY 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 ReadingTiffany Club – 1955 – Part Two
Chris Connor opened at Tiffany Club on Friday, July 8, 1955. Slim Gaillard and his crew were held-over for the sixth time. Down Beat published a profile of Chris that started out on the wrong foot when they printed her last name as “Connors.” Corrected for entry here: New York—Young, energetic Chris Connor, the former […]
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 ReadingJazz Cabaret
The club space at 5510 Hollywood Boulevard was vacant for nearly a year after Maynard Sloate closed Jazz City. It gained new life in February of 1958 when Carl Greene opened Jazz Cabaret.
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 ReadingJack Lewis / West Coast
Jack Lewis began his career as a jazz producer in Los Angeles in the early 1950s, most notably albums with Shorty Rogers and other West Coast artists.
Continue ReadingJAZZ SCENE USA – VHS & DVD
JAZZ SCENE U.S.A. – CODA Commentary © James A. Harrod, Copyright Protected; All Rights Reserved Steve Allen had hoped to continue his Jazz Scene USA syndication series for a second round of twenty six shows so that the package would contain a year’s worth of programs for potential licensees who wanted to broadcast the series […]
Continue ReadingLIGHTHOUSE AT LAGUNA
Jazz became a permanent fixture at the Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach when Howard Rumsey convinced the owner, John Levine, that a regular music offering would attract patrons to the bar/cafe who would linger and leave with a lighter wallet. Levine was skeptical at first but agreed to give Rumsey a trial run. The trial […]
Continue ReadingTHE FIRST LIGHTHOUSE ALL STARS RECORDINGS PT 4
TAMPA This research was originally published in the Dutch discography journal, Names & Numbers, No. 42, July 2007 and No. 44, January 2008 in slightly different form. The recordings to be examined are commercial recordings that were issued on the Skylark, Lighthouse, Contemporary and Tampa labels within the time frame of the […]
Continue ReadingTHE FIRST LIGHTHOUSE ALL STARS RECORDINGS PT 2 – THE LIGHTHOUSE RECORD COMPANY
This research was originally published in the Dutch discography journal, Names & Numbers, No. 42, July 2007 and No. 44, January 2008 in slightly different form. The recordings to be examined are commercial recordings that were issued on the Skylark, Lighthouse, Tampa and Contemporary labels within the time frame of the early 1950s when Howard […]
Continue ReadingTHE FIRST LIGHTHOUSE ALL STARS RECORDINGS PT 1 – SKYLARK
This research was originally published in the Dutch discography journal, Names & Numbers, No. 42, July 2007 and No. 44, January 2008 in slightly different form. The recordings to be examined are commercial recordings that were issued on the Skylark, Lighthouse, Tampa and Contemporary labels within the time frame of the early 1950s when Howard […]
Continue ReadingJAZZ SCENE USA #3 – SHELLY MANNE
The 3rd episode of Steve Allen’s Jazz Scene USA featured Shelly Manne and His Men: Shelly Manne, drums; Russ Freeman, piano, Monty Budwig, bass; Conte Candoli, trumpet; and Richie Kamuca, tenor sax.
Continue Reading