BLP 5060

Leonard Feather - The Best From the West - Volume 2

Released - 1955

Recording and Session Information

Los Angeles, CA, December 31, 1954
Harry Edison, trumpet; Bob Enevoldsen, valve trombone, tenor sax; Herb Geller, alto sax; Lorraine Geller, piano; Joe Mondragon, bass; Larry Bunker, drums; Leonard Feather, director.

tk.1 Arcadia
tk.7 The Blindfold Test No. 3

Conte Candoli, trumpet; John Graas, French horn; Charlie Mariano, alto sax; Marty Paich, piano; Monty Budwig, bass; Stan Levey, drums; Leonard Feather, director.

tk.10 Van Nuys Indeed
tk.12 Burbank Bounce

Conte Candoli, trumpet; Jimmy Giuffre, clarinet, tenor sax; Buddy Collette, alto sax, flute; Clyde Dunn, baritone sax; Gerald Wiggins, piano; Howard Roberts, guitar; Curtis Counce, bass; Stan Levey, drums; Leonard Feather, director.

tk.23 Here's Pete
tk.32 No Love, No Nothing

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Van Nuys Indeed	John Graas	December 31 1954
Here's Pete	Pete Rugulo	December 31 1954
The Blindfold Test No.3	Feather-Rogers	December 31 1954
Side Two
Burbank Bounce	Marty Paich	December 31 1954
Arcadia	Leonard Feather	December 31 1954
No Love, No Nothing	Warren-Robin	December 31 1954

Liner Notes

BEST FROM THE WEST

MODERN SOUNDS FROM CALIFORNIA Recorded Under the Direction of Leonard Feather

Featuring Original Music by Shorty Rogers, Pete Rugolo, John Graas, Marty Paich, Buddy Collette

HARRY EDISON, trumpet; HERB WALSH, alto sax; BOB ENEVOLDSEN, trombone; LORRAINE GELLER, piano; JOE MONDRAGON, bass; LARRY BUNKER, drums, on Arcadia, Santa Anita and Hooray for Hollywood.

CONTE CANDOLI, trumpet; JOHN GRAAS, French horn; CHARLIE MARIANO, alto sax; MARTY PAICH, piano; MONTY BUDWIG, bass; STAN LEVEY, drums, on Van Nuys Indeed! , Burbank Bounce and Culver City.

CONTE CANDOLI, trumpet; BUDDY COLLETTE, alto and flute; JIMMY GIUFFRE, tenor, baritone and clarinet; GERRY WIGGINS, piano; HOWARD ROBERTS, guitar; CURTIS COUNCE, bass; STAN LEVEY, drums, on Here's Pete, Santa Monica and No Love, No Nothing.

THE MUSIC on these two LPs was recorded at a series of sessions at Radio Recorders studio in Hollywood, Cal. Shorty Rogers, the former Herman and Kenton sideman who is now generally considered the uncrowned king of west coast jazz, lent invaluable help, especially in providing some of the original music heard on the sessions.

Many of the musicians you will hear on these sides have been associated with Shorty and with that disarmingly amorphous entity known as west coast jazz. The names of Conte Candoli, Bob Enevoldsen, John Graas, Jimmy Giuffre, Marty Paich, Howard Roberts, Joe Mondragon and Curtis Counce need no introduction to those who have followed the many sessions Shorty has written, directed and/or played for in the past two years. Drummers Stan Levey and Larry Bunker, too, are by now as much an integral part of the California scene as orange juice and palm trees.

Several of the other musicians, however, may be less familiar to you. Lorraine Geller is a 26-year-old pianist from Portland, Ore. who was known around New York as Lorraine Walsh before her marriage to alto ace Herb Geller; Monty Budwig is the fine young bassist from the Red Norvo Trio; New York born Gerry Wiggins has worked off and on with Benny Carter for several years and toured Europe as Lena Horne's accompanist in 1950.

Harry Edison, of course, is the former ex-Basieite, now a permanent Los Angeleno and still one of the most original trumpeters of our day Two of the three alto men, "Herb Walsh" and Buddy Collette, are among those rare west coast jazzmen who were actually born in Los Angeles. Buddy, who was in commercial TV and radio work with Jerry Fielding for several years, here reveals a remarkable jazz talent on alto and flute that has been all too rarely exposed on records. The third alto man, Charlie Mariano, is a Bostonian who had toured with Stan Kenton.

To add a little touch of mystery to the sessions we have concealed the identity of the solos to be heard respectively on the three numbers entitled The Blindfold Test (actually three different themes all based on the traditional twelve-bar blues format). However, you shouldn't have too much difficulty figuring it out.

BLP 5059 starts by setting a gay, light mood with a delightful theme typical of what has been accepted as the west coast jazz sound (largely through the efforts of Mr. Rogers of Great Barrington, Mass.). Santa Anita is also noteworthy for its 36-bar chorus, for some fine work by Walsh on alto, and for some Edison horn that combines the warmth of the swing era with modern phrasing and ideas.

Santa Monica is a minor theme, played in unison with Jimmy Giuffre's baritone outstanding in a series of interesting solos. The first Blindfold Test, with a catchy motif that dips down an octave and curves up a tenth, gives six soloists a chance — including some fours by the rhythm section. The soloists trade fours with Stan Levey in the fast moving Culver City, in which the switch from B Flat to A Flat in bars 5 and 6 of the opening theme is the element that gives it such Unusual charm. On the next blindfold test item, Shorty added some canon and counter- point to a line I had sketched out during the session. Roberts' guitar, Giuffre's clarinet, Collette's alto and flute, Wiggins' piano and Counce's bass all have solos. Hooray for Hollywood goes at a racehorse clip, displaying invention and virtuosity on the part of Miss Geller, Mr Walsh, Enevoldsen and Bunker, with Mondragon riding through it all at an eager four-to-the-bar.

BLP 5060 opens with John Graas' interesting original score, which struck us as Van Nuys Indeed! and thus earned the punning title. Here's Pete (meaning composer Rugolo) is noteworthy for Buddy Collette's flute; he takes the lead in outlining the theme, then soars off on a solo flight. The trumpet's comment in the closing choruses adds a happy, humorous touch to the third and final Blindfold Test. Burbank Bounce, written by Marty Paich, is one of the most swinging of the whole set of performances, with fleet solos by Candoli, Graas, Mariano and Paich.

Edison's muted trumpet provides a feeling of quiet intensity on Arcadia, last of the six originals on the sessions that were named for towns around Los Angeles. Walsh, Enevoldsen and Lorraine Geller also contributed handsomely here. To end the set, a ballad note is struck via the pretty tune of the '40s, No Love, No Nothing, with Howard Roberts, Gerry Wiggins and Giuffre's clarinet in the restrained solo roles.

All in all, we feel, and trust you'll agree, that this was a wailing set of performances, with a few little extra touches that lifted the results out of the ordinary run of California sessions.

—LEONARD FEATHER

Cover Design by JOHN HERMANSADER