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Bud Shank
Shank first came to prominence in the big bands of Charlie Barnet and Stan Kenton during the late 1940s. In the 1950s the saxophonist began a long tenure with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars, as well as work with his own quartet. A charter member of the "West Coast" jazz movement, Shank's cool but always strongly swinging sound has made him one of a handful of sax players with an instantly recognizable and always exciting sound. In addition to club and concert dates this period found the musician producing some 50 diverse albums.
During the next two decades Shank augmented his club, university, and festival appearances with a healthy amount of studio work. A first call alto sax and flute player, he was a four-time winner of the coveted Most Valuable Player award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS).
In the 1970s and 80s Shank joined with Ray Brown, Jeff Hamilton, and Laurindo Almeida to form the world-renowned LA Four, who recorded and toured extensively through the decade. Shank helped to popularize both Latin-flavored and chamber jazz music, and as a musician's musician also performed with orchestras as diverse as the Royal Philharmonic, the New American Orchestra, the Gerald Wilson Big Band, Stan Kenton's Neophonic Orchestra, and the legendary Duke Ellington.
In the 1990s Shank continued to grow and explore, creating the multi-media jazz performance, "The Lost Cathedral," expanding the Bud Shank Jazz Workshop and Jazz Southwest Festival in Albuquerque, and touring with his quartet and sextet. Both bands feature exemplary writing, tight and fiery playing, and a joyous sense of collaboration.
Today, Bud Shank juggles a packed schedule of touring, festivals, and teaching combined with select major club performances and time set aside for composing and arranging. He is in demand as a clinician, and is available in a duo, as leader of his own quartet and sextet, and as a feature soloist with orchestra or big band, or with all star groups. With over 60 years as a professional jazz musician, Bud Shank has more than earned his status as a legend.
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Bud Shank: Four Classic Albums
by David Rickert
Bud ShankFour Classic AlbumsAvid Records UK2012Bud Shank is typical of the jazz musicians that roamed the West Coast in the fifties in that he was able to work comfortably in a variety of settings: big bands, the studio, and clubs. Like many of the other players, Shank also played more than one instrument, which made him a valuable member of the bandstand and afforded his solo recordings a bit more variety than ...
read moreJake Fryer / Bud Shank Quartet: In Good Company
by Jerry D'Souza
Jake Fryer second recording, In Good Company, finds the British alto saxophonist recording in San Diego with fellow altoist Bud Shank and his rhythm section. Fryer's previous release, On Our Terms (Nuts About Jazz, 2008), was the live debut of the London Bebop Collective; Fryer also leads the Jake Fryer Quartet and is part of the Little Big Band. With two saxophonists in front, it is not surprising that this turns out to be a blowing session in ...
read moreBud Shank: Fascinating Rhythms
by Jack Bowers
In the Wild West, when a cowboy passed away while doing his job, whether herding cattle, branding a steer or engaging in a gunfight, the popular saying was that he “died with his boots on." The adage applies as well to renowned alto saxophonist Bud Shank, who recorded what was to be his final album, Fascinating Rhythms, at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City, CA on January 29-31, 2009--less than three months before his passing at age eighty-two after a ...
read moreBud Shank: A Voice for the Ages
by Jack Bowers
I'll always have fond memories of the 2007 Prescott (Arizona) Jazz Summit, as it was the last time I had the great pleasure of seeing and hearing the phenomenal alto saxophonist Bud Shank doing what he did best: enfolding an entire audience in the palm of his hand with a seemingly endless stream of irrepressible notes and phrases that arose from his heart and soul and cascaded gracefully through the bell of his horn.
As Shank was at the time ...
read moreReflections on Bud
by Graham Carter
During the past few years I have had the honor to work with many famous jazz musicians, but without a doubt the nicest one of that group was Bud Shank. In thinking about Bud, and his contributions to the jazz world the past 60 years or so, one must rank his demeanor right next to his extensive music abilities.Bud would listen to you intently. It did not matter whether you were a fan rushing up to him on ...
read moreBud Shank: Never at a Standstill
by Ken Dryden
Bud Shank has long been labeled as a cool or “West Coast Jazz" stylist, though the veteran alto saxophonist, now in his seventh decade as a performer, has long evolved past such labels. An alum of Charlie Barnet, Stan Kenton and Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars, Shank first began leading his own quartet during the '50s and recorded extensively for Pacific Jazz/World Pacific while also doing studio work. In the '70s, Shank formed the LA Four with Laurindo Almeida, Ray ...
read moreBud Shank: Still Going Strong at Eighty-Two
by Jack Bowers
At a time when most of his contemporaries are content to relax on a couch or easy chair and watch their favorite TV programs and sporting events, alto sax superstar Bud Shank is on a roll. Hard on the heels of Graham Carter's splendid documentary of Shank's career, Against the Tide: Portrait of a Jazz Legend, and its companion CD, the eighty-two-year-old Shank, who continues to blow up a storm, has been honored by the Tucson, AZ, Jazz ...
read moreBud Shank and Three Trombones
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Bud Shank was among the most recorded West Coast jazz reed players. He was on more than 600 known sessions, according to Tom Lord's Jazz Discography. Heard most often on alto saxophone, Bud began his recording career in 1947 with Ike Carpenter and then with Charlie Barnet in 1948 before joining Stan Kenton's Innovations Orchestra in 1950. He left the band with Shorty Rogers and others in 1952 to pioneer a more swinging West Coast jazz style in small ensembles, ...
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Bud Shank: Shorty Rogers, 1954
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
If you're looking for an introduction to West Coast jazz or simply want the pure stuff, Bud Shank's recordings for the Pacific Jazz label in the 1950s are a great place to start. Bud had a sterling, aggressive sound on the alto saxophone, with the feel of a sports car pulling away from the curb. His albums for Pacific Jazz wisely teamed him with top like-minded Los Angeles talent, including Shorty Rogers, Bill Perkins, Bob Cooper, Claude Williamson and others. ...
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Bud Shank's Last Recording: Jake Fryer's "In Good Company"
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Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
If there is still a west coast kind of jazz it's because players associated with the west coast still play music. That's obvious, of course, but even in its heyday the west coast style covered a broad group of stylistic tendencies, from the cool of a Chet Baker to the heat of Hampton Hawes. Bud Shank leaned toward to cooler alto style in his first years, making some marvelous records. Sometime in the '70s his style changed and he began ...
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Capri Records Releases Jake Fryer's New CD "In Good Company" Featuring Bud Shank, Mike Wofford, Bob Magnusson & Joe La Barbara
Source:
Nancy Hudgins
Last Recording Date for Shank, Who Passed Away The Day After Recording When the British saxophonist Jake Fryer walked out of Studio West in San Diego on April 1st 2009 after completing this recording In Good Time (Capri Records, January 18, 2011), he couldn't have imagined that Bud Shank would not have survived another day. Bud went home the day after the recording and passed away a few hours later. “The last words Bud said to me with a warm ...
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Jake Fryer/Bud Shank Quintet - In Good Company (2011)
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Something Else!
By Pico Just prior to kickoff for the Fiesta Bowl played the other day between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Connecticut Huskies, the sad story was told about the starting UConn cornerback who was senselessly stabbed to death during the prior football season. The night before to his murder, Jasper Howard and his teammates celebrated a big victory over conference rival Louisville and the following day, just hours before his death, the 20 year old junior left behind a quote ...
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Bud Shank: Windmills of Your Mind
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In the mid-'60s, Bud Shank recorded a string of albums in Los Angeles for World Pacific Jazz that were West Coast attempts to capitalize on rock, pop and the new movie music. These recordings included Michelle, A Spoonful of Jazz, California Dreamin,' Light My Fire, Music from Today's Movies, Magical Mystery and Let It Be. One of the most glorious efforts in this groovy genre was Bud's Windmills of Your Mind (1969). What I love about Bud on these recordings ...
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Bud Shank and the Sax Section
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Whenever a jazz artist is packaged on an album as joining, meeting or leading a “sax section," I'm instantly hooked. In every case, the result is exciting, since no one in his right mind would be paired with a sax section unless the results and collective talent were sterling. Examples of this approach that come to mind include Al Cohn and the Sax Section (1956), Coleman Hawkins Meets the Saxophone Section (1958) and That's Right: Nat Adderley and the Big ...
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Bud Shank and Valve Trombones
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
In 1954 and 1955, Bud Shank recorded two 10-inch albums for the Pacific Jazz label that teamed him with valve trombones. The LPs were Bud Shank and Three Trombones and Bud Shank and Bob Brookmeyer. These recordings remain potent early examples of West Coast optimism, technical prowess and a sound that still raises hairs. What you hear in these artists is a hunger and excitement for the new music as well as swinging personal ambition. After all, the West Coast ...
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Bud Shank "Against the Tide" film on Jazzed Media Receives EMPixx Gold Award
Source:
All About Jazz
The EMPixx Awards, a competition honoring excellence in the production of moving pixels, had honored Jazzed Media with a 2009 EmPixxAwards- Gold for the documentary film Bud Shank Against the Tide.
The documentary film was produced and directed by multi-Grammy nominated and award winning filmmaker Graham Carter, founder of Jazzed Media. Jazzed Media produces jazz CDs and documentary jazz films. This is the fourth national award for the Bud Shank Against the Tide" documentary film. Previously the film was awarded ...
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Bud Shank
Instrument: Saxophone
Born: May 27, 1926
Died: April 2, 2009
