“It was William Claxton who set up the photo shoot for Shorty Rogers in this improvised spaceman's headgear plus formal suit jacket and tie. As Shorty told the author, "I don't normally wander around wearing a space helmet."”
"The original ten-inch LP version of Cool and Crazy is a prized collector's item . . . every performance is memorable. . . . Seldom have big bands swung so hard or produced such a joyous sound."
- Robert Gordon, Jazz West Coast (Quartet, 1986)
Periodically, the editorial staff at JazzProfiles enjoys searching out material that covers some aspect of West Coast Jazz or the Cool School or Jazz on the West Coast and posting it to these pages as part of a recurring theme.
Jazz in California from 1945-1965 was our first exposure to the music and it’s always fun to find new and/or additional “takes” on this style of the music’s evolution.
The following is from Alyn Shipton’s The Art of Jazz: A Visual History [2020] and you can locate order information through its publisher by going here. The book is also available through online booksellers.
Not surprisingly, this excerpt about trumpeter, composer-arranger and bandleader Shorty Rogers is from the “Birth of the Cool and West Coast Jazz” chapter.
“In its issue dated November 4, 1953, Downbeat carried a full-page advertisement from RCA, mainly focused on the music of trumpeter and arranger Shorty Rogers. With the strapline "Modern Jazz by the Man and the Band Who Make It Best," it referred readers to two of Rogers's albums, Cool and Crazy and The Giants, plus an EP plugging the forthcoming Columbia movie Hot Blood (even though everything about it, from the cover image to the tune "Blues for Brando," shows that it was in fact hastily rebranded from an earlier tie-in to Marlon Brando's The Wild One, even down to the cast photograph!) There was also a puff for a compilation LP called Crazy and Cool, linked visually and by title to Rogers's album but featuring other contemporary players in RCA's stable.
Rogers was well known as a former trumpeter and arranger for Woody Herman and Stan Kenton, and had been based in Los Angeles for some time, writing for the Hollywood studios, arranging jazz where he could (including part of Chet Baker's album with strings), and leading his small band, the Giants. His small-band arranging took forward many of the ideas in the Miles Davis nonet; his big-band writing developed out of his time with Kenton. Yet as the 1950s went on, Rogers, with his impish grin and short beard, became the unlikely focus of the cool movement. This was due more than anything to the marketing department at RCA, which initially had no intention of signing him. He recalled that he was helped by a colleague who had worked on his earlier Capitol album Modern Sounds:
Jack Lewis went to RCA and told them they should record Shorty Rogers. They said, "Gee we don't know about that, but we have a title, and we'd love to get the album made. We don't know who to do it with."
He said, "What's the title?"
They said, "Cool and Crazy."
Jack spoke on my behalf and then it wound up being me.
[The cartoon that RCA's design department added to Cool and Crazy pepped up the zany image of the record title, and bore little relationship to the music— there is, for example, no guitar on the record, despite the character second from the right!]
This big-band album compounded the zaniness of its cartoon cover with enigmatic song titles (many of them dreamed up by trombonist Milt Bernhardt and drummer Shelly Manne) that emphasized the Cool and Crazy Idea, such as "Tales of an African Lobster," "Sweetheart of Sigmund Freud," "infinity Promenade," and "Coup de Graas" (named after the band's French horn player, John Graas). "We had fun with the titles," recalled Shorty, "and it became a fun thing to have the title say more than I'm a tune'!"
A residency for his small band led not only to one of the most famous of Rogers's tunes, but also to an album that gave his record labels plenty of visual ideas for marketing. Playing at a nightclub called Zardi's, where the band had a residency of several months, the graffiti "Martians Go Home '' had been written on the men's room wall. Shorty recalled:
“Someone told the girls who were waitresses about it, so it became a funny thing for the people that worked there. They'd say to one another, "Martians go home," and everyone would laugh. It became like a stone rolling down hill, and the thing was getting larger and larger, so we got on the bandstand one night, and I said, "Everyone listen, we have a new original we're going to play now for the first time, and it's entitled Martians Go Home."
The bartender fell down laughing, and all the people working there were laughing, too. And the audience was wondering what all these crazy people were laughing at. I told the rhythm section, "Just play a blues in F," and while they were playing, I sang a little riff to Jimmy Giuffre, and we played this simple little repetitive melody. We had our little joke, and we thought that was the end of it. But the next night, we got to work, and before we got up on the bandstand, people were saying, "Play that Martians Go Home thing." So it just became something associated with us.”
A Classic of Jim Flora's record-cover designs, this seems incredibly busy, yet the only two musicians actually depicted are Shorty with his trumpet on the left, and the central figure of Count Basie (whose music is interpreted on the album) at the whimsical piano.
On the French issue of the first album featuring the tune, there is a motif of a Martian spacecraft (looking suspiciously like a ride cymbal!! next to a boomerang (to symbolize the return homei. More Martian tunes followed by public request, and when the band moved from RCA to the Atlantic label, their first album was Martians Come Back. For this, Shorty posed in a transparent plastic space helmet. It fit the image of being both cool and slightly crazy, and even when Rogers was touring internationally in the nineties, with the Lighthouse All Stars, audiences still came up requesting the "Martian" tunes, at least in part prompted by memories of those original record sleeves.
“If ever a “Wiz there was” at adapting superior popular songs to big band modern jazz, it's curly-bearded Shorty Rogers.”
- John Tynan, West Coast Editor Down Beat
The editorial staff at JazzProfiles wanted to continued its visit to Mr. Rogers neighborhood - no, not Fred, Shorty - and thought we’d focus on one particular album to discuss the nature and structure of his big band arrangements which Ted Gioia describes this way in his seminal work on the subject of West Coast Jazz, Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960:
“ … [Shorty’s] arrangements could swing without ostentation; his solos were executed with untroubled fluency; his compositions seemed to navigate the most difficult waters with a relaxed, comfortable flow that belied the often complex structures involved.”
Put another way, Ted associates this “swing without ostentation” with the concept of -“Sprezzatura” - “The ability to do difficult things with apparent ease.” [ the concept is attributed to Baldassare Castiglione, count of Casatico, Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and prominent Renaissance author].
Since the Renaissance was a 15th and 16th century Italian reawakening largely based on the rediscovery of the cultural and artistic achievements of ancient Greece and Rome, perhaps it's appropriate to apply the following Roman maxim to Shorty's talents and skills as it parallels sprezzatura”:
“Ars Est Celare Artem” - “The perfection of art is to conceal it.”
- Ovid, Roman poet; Proverbs 12:23
As Ted Gioia also points out ” Rogers recorded prolifically between 1951 and 1963e but his visibility in jazz was hindered by his virtual retirement from performing situations since the early 1960s. Rogers [had not ]actually left the music world; … [he]simply applied … [his] skills elsewhere, in studio work or academic pursuits. Rogers But his lengthy absence from the jazz world has meant that his work, once widely known, is now largely unfamiliar to many jazz fans and critics.” [paraphrased].
Not surprisingly, there is another ancient Roman saying that describes this development as well, although the original intent of the adage may have been different:
“Ut Saepe Summa Ingenia In Occulto Latent” - “How often the greatest talents are shrouded in obscurity.”
- Plautus, Roman playwright [c. 254-184 BC]
We’ve been doing our part to remedy this Shrouded Shorty Situation [sorry, I couldn’t resist] with periodic features about Rogers on this page.
Although Shorty often expressed his fondness for the easy swing of the Count Basie band and tried to reflect that in his big band arrangements, I’ve long been of the opinion that Shorty also had an affinity for some aspects of Duke Ellington’s approach to writing for a big band.
I don’t want to force comparisons here because the Duke maintained his own orchestra for almost 50 years, while Shorty would assemble a band as needed for recording projects.
But both men tried to reflect the singular features of members in their band by voicing arrangements to reflect, incorporate or emphasize certain aspects of their tone, timbre, range, improvisational style or just the unique sound of the instrument itself.
With regard to the latter, the Duke was one of the first to add the baritone saxophone to his sax section; he employed a valve trombone; emphasized muted trumpets and plunger trombones.
Shorty came of age during a period of high register trumpets, pedal tone bass trombones, electric guitars and vibraphones and blended all of these in his arrangements, along with French horns, tubas, piccolos and flutes.
So Duke takes into consideration the singular characteristics of trumpeters Cootie Williams, Ray Nance and Clark Terry, trombonist Tricky Sam Lofton, valve trombonist Juan Tizol, alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges and baritone saxophonist Harry Carney when voicing his arrangements.
Shorty, on the other hand, would score for upper register trumpet screamers like Maynard Ferguson and Al Porcino, the master of the clarinet’s lower register, Jimmy Giuffre, Bob Enevoldson’s valve trombone, Frank Rosolino’s tenor trombone, John Graas’ French horn, Gene Englund’s tuba, the flutes of Paul Horn and Bud Shank, Art Pepper’s alto saxophonist, vibraphonist Larry Bunker, and guitarist Barney Kessel. Of course, you need to leave lots of room in your arrangements for kicks, licks and fills by Mel Lewis, the personification of big band drumming in the modern era, and Shorty certainly accommodated this “need.”
Duke wrote much of the music for his band and seldom arranged the works of other composers. Shorty, too, wrote many compositions for his big band recordings but he wasn’t averse to orchestrating the music composed by others, especially the songs composed by those usually associated with the Great American Songbook.
Which brings me to the album featured in the title of this piece Shorty Rogers and his Orchestra featuring The Giants The Wizard of Oz and other Harold Arlen songs which was released in 1959 as RCA Victor LPM-1997 and reissued on CD in 1996 [RCA BMG Spain 74321453792].
John Tynan, the West Coast editor of down beat magazine and a great fan of Shorty and his music, wrote the following liner notes for the 1959 LP.
If ever a “Wiz there was” at adapting superior popular songs to big band modern jazz, it's curly-bearded Shorty Rogers. Shorty's singular quality in this area is his capacity to get the most out of the music at hand from the standpoint of orchestration, yet hew strictly to a swinging jazz line. The success of his recent album, CHANCES ARE IT SWINGS (LPM/LSP-1975), in which the tunes were those of Robert Allen, is a perfect case in point. This time the lure was the superlative songs of Harold Arlen who, with lyricist E. Y. Harburg, wrote the score for M-G-M's film version of the fantasy. In addition to the Oz music, this album proffered a tempting opportunity to present five other enduring Arlen melodies.
Results of the trumpeter-arranger's jazz pilgrimage to the Emerald City of Oz for an audience with the Wizard are tangible evidence that in jazz it's not only what you do but the way you do it. As Shorty sees it, the issue reduces itself to a two-way proposition—the manner in which one handles certain music and the substance of the music per se.
Contemplating the score from the Judy Garland film classic, Rogers confesses he's been wigged by the Wiz since childhood. And from time to time, the vagrant thought occurred that a jazz adaptation of this music should prove an interesting challenge to him as arranger-orchestrator. "The one thing that gassed me about this music," he declares, "is that it's so well suited to a fairy tale. It's gay, light in spirit... and even when done in jazz it's still got that cute, merry quality."
As Shorty tells it, this album might never have happened had it not been for pianist Lou Levy's choice of tunes in his album SOLO SCENE, recorded under Shorty's supervision some years ago. "Lou's album was the first I did for Victor," Rogers recalls, "and from the production end it's my favorite. Anyway, one of the tunes on the date was Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead. This revived my interest in the music from The Wizard of Oz' and from that time on I've wanted to orchestrate it — but in a special way. Lou's treatment of the tune was so great, I wanted to orchestrate it in a similar style — I mean to use Lou's solo as direct basis for the instrumentation. And that's just what I did here. In several sections of the arrangement all I did was merely orchestrate what Lou played. So, in a way you could say that Lou Levy is indirectly responsible for this album." Also included on the SOLO SCENE album were Harold Arlen's That Old Black Magic and that perennial vehicle for jazz improvisation, Get Happy. In the Rogers' arrangements of those songs in this set, the Levy influence is again apparent. The out chorus of Get Happy is taken straight from Levy's solo.
As in CHANCES ARE IT SWINGS, Rogers has utilized the small-band-within-a-big-band format, one integrated with the other or in opposition. There are frequent occasions, also, when the arrangement is split between small and big units. On Let's Fall in Love, for example, the small group — consisting of vibes, guitar, clarinet and muted trumpet with the rhythm section — take over on the first bridge from the block-busting brass. Again, in If I Only Had a Brain, the big and small groups alternate, creating a framework for the soloists.
Heard throughout in solo spots both on trumpet and flugelhorn is the effervescent Shorty constantly chased by the horns of Jimmy Giuffre (clarinet and tenor), Barney Kessel—(guitar), Bob Enevoldsen (valve-trombone), Herb Geller (tenor), Bud Shank (alto and tenor), Larry Bunker (vibes), Don Fagerquist (trumpet in the small group) and Frank Rosolino, whose gymnastic solo trombone is heard only in The Merry Old Land of Oz. Joe Mondragon is responsible for the occasional bass interludes, and his rhythm mate, Mel "The Tailor" Lewis, sews up the time with relentless imaginative drive. Pete Jolly whose piano is an unfailing asset both in rhythm section and solo, takes charge on Over the Rainbow which here takes the form of a miniature concerto for Pete's considerable talent. In keeping with the overall ebulliency of this album the opening Afro-Cuban track proclaims in overture fashion, We're off to See the Wizard. There can be no doubt that Shorty and the boys were granted the sought-for audience in Oz.... Quite obviously, the Wizard dug the scene.” —JOHN TYNAN
For many years, George Ziskind, a friend who resided in New York City, was one of the biggest fans of these pages. He was constantly sending me supportive messages and these "at-a-boy's," "way to go's," and "well done's" meant a lot to me, especially during the early going when the blog was on less surer ground. George wasn't one to let an error go by and his encyclopedic knowledge of Jazz and its makers often rescued my miscues and mistakes, but he always did so in a kind and gentle way. What made this soft approach to correction so remarkable was that George could be a pretty gruff guy who didn't suffer fools - gladly or otherwise. "What you're doing is important," he would say. "You're a musician, too, and you know how hard it is to play this stuff," he often remarked. "People need to learn to appreciate that. You can't just pour it our of a can. Don't they know how many people died for this music?" He never let up. One of his fondest expressions was "America is about three things: [1] The US Constitution, [2] Baseball and [3] Jazz. Ken Burns [documentary film maker for the Public Broadcasting Services] got the first two right, but he messed up on Jazz." He especially like my features on Jazz piano players, I suspect, in part, because George was one [and a darn fine one at that.] George died in 2014 at the age of eighty-six years old. The JazzTimes carried an obituary about him which you can locate by going here. He was very close friends with Lou Levy and I thought it might make a sort of tribute to George's memory to reprise this piece about his old friend. I miss my old friend.
“For all of his modesty – and it is real, not affected – Lou, in an instrumental setting, is a fleet, inventive and brilliant soloist.”
- Gene Lees
“Lou Levy is quite a musician. Long an established and a highly respected pianist among his fellow musicians, he has been woefully neglected by the public and even by jazz fans. In his approach to the piano, there is always a great sense of assurance, of playing on a larger scale; there is intensity, reflection, humor and showmanship.”
- Andre’ Previn
“Lou Levy is two things that seem incompatible: the archetype of the bebop pianist and the most sympathetic possible accompanist for singers.”
- Gene Lees
Like so many other teenagers growing up in the 1940s, Lou Levy was captivated by the language of Bebop.
Unlike many of those teenagers, however, Lou Levy developed the facility, skills and melodic inventiveness to play piano with the best of the Beboppers.
Lou’s Dad played piano by ear and, as a result of his father’s encouragement, he began studying piano at the age of ten in his hometown of Chicago, IL. Lou’s early idols were Bud Powell and Art Tatum.
In 1945, at the age of seventeen, Lou took his first professional gig with Georgie Auld’s band. Thereafter he performed with artists like Sarah Vaughan, Chubby Jackson and Flip Phillips and bands like the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra and Woody Herman's Second Herd, the bop band that featured saxophonists Zoot Sims, Stan Getz and Al Cohn.
He joined Tommy Dorsey’s band in 1950. Tommy fired him after telling him: “Kid, you play good. But not for my band.”
In recounting this story to Gene Lees, Lou went on to say: “And he was right, I didn’t like it and he didn’t like it.”
Lou never got fired again.
In the early 1950's Lou dropped out of jazz for two years to live in Minneapolis and work in the medical-journal publishing business.
However, it has never been possible to keep a natural and accomplished a musician as Lou away from his chosen instrument for too long a time, and in 1954 he capitulated to numerous requests to return to music and opened at Frank Holzfeind's Blue Note in Chicago, playing solo intermission piano.
Woody's band was booked into the club, and suddenly the sidemen were paying Lou one of the great musicians' compliments: they were using their intermissions to sit around the stand, listening closely and passing the word around that Lou was back and in great form. On the last Sunday of their engagement, Al Porcino, the wonderful trumpet player, lugged in his tape recorder and took down some fifteen or twenty of Lou's solo efforts.
These tapes soon achieved almost a legendary status. Musicians all over the country heard them, some had them copied, others remembered them in detail, and "Hey, did you hear those Blue Note Lou Levy tapes?" became the opening gambit of many a jazz discussion.
In 1955, Lou moved out to Los Angeles and began gigging around: with Conte Candoli, Stan Getz and Shorty Rogers, on record dates and one-nighters.
He also began an 18-year association (including some breaks to take other jobs) with the singer Peggy Lee. From then on he became known as a particularly sympathetic accompanist for singers. Like Lester Young, one of his idols, he believed that a musician should know the lyrics of a song he was interpreting and said that a bandleader -- even if not a singer -- should be considered a voice.
As Gene Lees has observed: “Lou Levy is two things that seem incompatible: the archetype of the bebop pianist and the most sympathetic possible accompanist for singers, including three of the best: Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, and Peggy Lee. Peggy calls him ‘my good gray fox,' both for the color of his hair and the clever yet sympathetic nature of his accompaniment.”
After settling in California, Lou became a staple of the studios.
And he worked with a number of other singers: June Christy, Anita O'Day, Lena Home, Nancy Wilson, Tony Bennett, and Frank Sinatra.
He played with the big bands of Terry Gibbs and Benny Goodman, and with Med Flory’s group, Supersax, which specialized in the solos of Charlie Parker orchestrated for five saxophones.
When Gene Lees asked him about those jazz pianists who are reluctant to accompany singers, Lou simply said, "They're crazy.”
Gene observed: “Lou has a love for the words of songs. It is manifest in the way he plays. He has had a long personal relationship with Pinky Winters, a subtle and sensitive singer little heard outside California.”
Over the years, Lou had a very close and long working relationship with composer, arranger and trumpeter, Shorty Rogers. Along with Pete Jolly, Lou was Shorty’s pianist-of-choice for his own quintet as was drummer Larry Bunker.
In the 1950s, Shorty was hired by RCA to become the head of its Jazz artists & repertoire department and, not surprisingly, Shorty signed Lou to a recording contract with the label.
Thank goodness that Shorty stepped up with the RCA offer as the limited discography of recordings under Lou’s own name would have been significantly smaller.
In addition to a solo piano recording and a trio LP, Lou put together a quartet album for RCA with Stan Levey on drums, whom Lou had worked with dating back to their days together with the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra in 1947, bassist Leroy Vinnegar, everyone’s favorite bassist on the West Coast Jazz scene in the 1950s and Larry Bunker, who in addition to being an excellent drummer, was also an outstanding vibraphonist.
Lou’s quartet album for RCA was entitled Jazz in Four Colors: The Lou Levy Quartet [reissued on CD as Fresh Sound ND-74401].
Here’s what Shorty had to say about the evolution of the album:
“In planning this album, Lou and I spent much time trying to figure out a "different" instrumentation. This was no small problem in face of the fact that so many albums are being made today. While trying to figure out an instrumentation, Lou went to work on a job that enabled him to renew one of his favorite musical acquaintances: Larry Bunker on vibes. Lou and Larry enjoyed playing together and made a wonderful nucleus for a quartet. This also presented the possibility of forming a group that could record and appear in public.
This album could be called "the birth of the Lou Levy Quartet," and I must say that it was a privilege and a great thrill to be a witness to the birth of this swingin', tasty, musical baby.”
The following video has all audio tracks from Jazz in Four Colors: The Lou Levy Quartet [Fresh Sound CD; ND-74401] as performed by Lou Levy on piano, Larry Bunker on vibes, Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Stan Levey on drums.
At one point in my life, the music of Shorty Rogers was anything but “invisible.”
Heck, I came of age as a Jazz drummer during the heyday of Jazz on the West Coast with Shorty as one of the recognized leaders of that supposed “movement.”
Larry Bunker, my drum teacher, was among Shorty’s closest friends and often worked in his small group, Shorty Rogers and The Giants, and on many of Shorty’s studio recordings. As a result, I was often around Shorty as Larry’s invited guest. We “hung out” together on a number of occasions and he hired me to do some commercial studio work for him.
In the Spring of 1961, flute and alto saxophonist Paul Horn and vibraphonist Emil Richards were raving about a new LP they were recording with Shorty at RCA. [Emil was a member of Paul Horn’s quintet from around 1959-1962.]
As usual, Shorty had all the top Jazz and studio players on it: Al Porcino, Ollie Mitchell and Ray Triscari sharing lead trumpet duties; Conte Candoli taking the Jazz trumpet solos with Frank Rosolino taking the Jazz trombone solos; Paul and Bud Shank on alto sax and flute; Bill Perkins and Harold Land doing the tenor sax Jazz solos; Chuck Gentry or Bill Hood anchoring the sax section on baritone; a rhythm section that featured Pete Jolly on piano, Red Mitchell on bass and Mel Lewis on drums.
The untitled album never came out and by the late 1960’s both Shorty and much of Jazz on the West Coast had disappeared.
As Ted Gioia explains in his seminal work on the subject of West Coast Jazz, Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960:
“ … [Shorty’s] arrangements could swing without ostentation; his solos were executed with untroubled fluency; his compositions seemed to navigate the most difficult waters with a relaxed, comfortable flow that belied the often complex structures involved. Rogers's lifestyle, in its refusal to call attention to itself, followed a similar philosophy. While many of his colleagues on the West Coast found it easier to make headlines through their counterculture ways than through their music, Rogers had little to do with such excesses. He paid his dues and his monthly bills with equal equanimity. This was perhaps too cool. Rogers was easy to take for granted.
Rogers's visibility in jazz has been further hindered by his virtual retirement from performing situations since the early 1960s. …. Rogers recorded prolifically between 1951 and 1963, only to fade from the scene afterwards. … Rogers [had not ]actually left the music world; … [he]simply applied … [his] skills elsewhere, in studio work or academic pursuits. But to the jazz community this was tantamount to retirement.
In reaction to Rogers's retreat into studio work, some jazz fans have been even less generous. They have viewed this change in careers as nothing short of treason, a betrayal of the serious music Rogers had once strived to create. But no matter how one interprets Rogers the musician, his lengthy absence from the jazz world has meant that his work, once widely known, is now largely unfamiliar to many jazz fans and critics.”
Shorty Rogers passed away in 1994 at the age of seventy.
Thanks to the efforts of Jordi Pujol, who is based in Barcelona, Spain and who owns and operates Fresh Sound Records and a number of associated Jazz record labels, much of Shorty’s music has once again become “visible” in reissued CD formats.
Jordi, bless his soul, even released the Shorty big band sessions that Paul Horn and Emil Richards were raving about “back in the day,” while providing this background about them in the sleeve notes that he wrote to accompany the CD.
Shorty Rogers and His Orchestra featuring the Giants: AN INVISIBLE ORCHARD [RCA 74321495602].
“After having produced several reissues during the last fourteen years of some of the great albums Shorty Rogers made for RCA, it's now time to present one of the most valuable treasures that have remained unreleased in the RCA vaults.
I've been very fortunate to have been good friends with Shorty, and to have had his collaboration in some projects for Fresh Sound Records. Shorty himself gave me a cassette of these sessions, with all the enclosed discographical information, with the hope that the album would finally see the light of day. This album was entirely written by him, and conceived as a suite with the title of "An Invisible Orchard", and was possibly the most personal and ambitious project he ever put together.
It was the last album he recorded for RCA, after having been associated with the label from 1953 to 1961, except for the year 1955 when he went to Atlantic as musical director. Unfortunately the policy of RCA at that time resulted in the recording being put on hold for commercial reasons. They felt it was not the kind of music the public was expecting to hear at that particular time, ten years after
Shorty had established his name and figure as the head of the so-called West Coast Jazz school, and the new trends in jazz caused the company to feel that the album did not fall within their current plans. As a confirmed Shorty Rogers fan, I'm grateful to the RCA archives for having located the master tapes, which has given me the opportunity to produce this CD. However, I feel sad that it arrived too late to make Shorty himself happy, for more than anyone else he deserved to see this CD issued. This should be not only a memorable and momentous jazz event but a major homage to the man and musician who was admired and respected by the entire music world. God Bless You Shorty Rogers!” You can order the CD directly from Fresh Sound Records by going here.
The following audio file features Shorty's arrangement of Inner Space, The solos are by Harold Land on tenor sax, Shorty on flugelhorn, Emil Richards on vibes, Frank Rosolino on trombone and Pete Jolly on piano. The drummer is Mel Lewis and the lead trumpets are Al Porcino and Ray Triscari. It is the opening track of the Invisible Orchard CD.
Because of his long associations with female Jazz vocalists such as Peggy Lee [circa 1955-75], Ella Fitzgerald [1957-1962] and later stints with Anita O’Day and Nancy, Lou Levy is sometimes referred to as “... a fleet-fingered bop pianist known principally as an accompanist.” [Andre Barbera writing in The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Barry Kernfeld, ed.
But the broader view might see Lou as having had a parallel career as a member of many instrumental groups led by Shorty Rogers, Stan Getz, Terry Gibbs and Med Flory and Supersax, not to mention, countless recordings on which he appeared as a sideman.
Perhaps the gigs by the accompanist Levy made possible the “comforts of home” while the instrumental Jazz jobs provided “food for the soul?”
Thankfully, along the way, Lou made a number of recordings to help document his contributions to Jazz. These began early in his career thanks to Shorty Rogers. [Lou held down the piano chair in Shorty’s quintet the Giants for many years.]
One of the first things Shorty Rogers did when he joined in the mid 1950s RCA as its Artists & Repertoire man for Jazz on the Left Coast was to contract with pianist Lou Levy to do three LPs for the label. Fittingly, in order that we might hear the Levy piano style unencumbered, Lou opted to do the first one for RCA as as a solo piano album.
Pianist Andre Previn, who due to his work in Hollywood films was resident in Hollywood for most of the 1950s, did the honors for the liner notes to Solo Scene Lou Levy, Pianist [RCA 74321665052 1956]
“The sides in this album fill a gap long overdue in today's recorded modern jazz. This is quite a statement, considering the hundreds of albums currently available, but then Lou Levy is quite a musician. Long an established and highly respected pianist among his fellow musicians, he has been woefully neglected by the public and even by jazz fans, who have considered him only as a valuable man to have around in a rhythm section.
The eleven tracks which comprise Solo Scene will hopefully change this attitude, for here is Lou proving himself as an imaginative, powerful soloist. There have always been pianists who sound perfectly fine within the safe confines of a rhythm section but who suddenly reveal their shortcomings when sitting alone at the piano; not so with the gifted Mr. Levy who for his recording premiere, disdains any and all help from other instruments, and tackles eleven standards in solitary splendor, thus following the small and select company of musicians who make up the category "Solo Pianists."
Lou was born in Chicago in 1928. His father played piano by ear so Lou's interest in jazz was immediate, and his flair for it undeniable; by the time he was eighteen he was accompanying Sarah Vaughan, having already put in a short spell with Georgie Auld's band in the company of Tiny Kahn, Red Rodney. Curly Russell and Serge Chaloff. He next joined Chubby Jackson's band and became one of the first jazzmen of the modern school to play Europe. During '48 and '49 he was a mainstay of the great Woody Herman Second Herd (the famous Four Brothers band ) and was well on his way to becoming the favorite pianist of many modern musicians.
In 1952, tired of the road and the scuffle that goes with it, he deprived the music business of his presence and went into the publishing field. However, it has never been possible to keep as natural and accomplished a musician as Lou away from his chosen instrument for too long a time, and in '54 he capitulated and opened at Frank Holzfeind’s Blue Note in Chicago, playing solo intermission piano. And there the story of this album actually started. Woody's band was booked into the club, and suddenly the sidemen were paying Lou one of the great musicians' compliments: they were using their intermissions to sit around the stand, listening closely and passing the word around that Lou was back and in great form. On the last Sunday of their engagement. Al Porcino, the wonderful trumpet player, lugged in his tape recorder and took down some fifteen or twenty of Lou's solo efforts. These tapes soon achieved almost a legendary status. Musicians all over the country heard them, some had them copied, others remembered them in detail, and "Hey, did you hear those Blue Note Lou Levy tapes?" became the opening gambit of many a jazz discussion. In the meantime, Lou moved out to Los Angeles and began gigging around: with Conte Candoli, Stan Getz and Shorty Rogers, on record dates and one-nighters. He was almost willing to forget about his status as a solo pianist, but his many friends were not; and finally, after much prodding, RCA Victor snared him into their recording studios. Characteristically, it then took Lou only two fast sessions to cut the album and make some extra sides as well; more often than not the first take was the final one.
Side One opens with a forgotten song from "The Wizard of Oz". called Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead. Taken at a breakneck pace and played for bravura effect, it shows off Lou's technique and his unfailing sense of time.
Lullaby of the Leaves has a tender introduction and a lovely, moody statement of the theme. Here, as in many of the sides. Lou shows his love for the Impressionist School, making large use of the whole-tone progressions so dear to the music of that genre.
Making Whoopee, which follows, has a fine, down-home feel to it. The gamut is run here, with no disdain shown for occasional stride piano, a quick interpolation of 3/4, and a funky ending.
It Ain't Necessarily So, from "Porgy and Bess", is again complete with tempo changes, variation in dynamics, and an occasional romanticism that belies the original lyric.
Violets for Your Furs is perhaps the best ballad playing of the album. Lou plays the Matt Dennis verse (a great habit), and there is an interesting polytonal coda.
The side ends with another virtuoso display: Harold Arlen's Get Happy. A grandiose statement of the tune leads into several fast jazz choruses, and the ascending key changes are worth listening for.
The opener on Side Two is That Old Black Magic, taken at an uptempo. Lou sets a pattern in the introduction which carries over into the first chorus. Some fascinating rhythmic shifts occur during the second 32 bars.
I'll Take Romance is again Debussy-esque. played in 3/4, and full of Lou's favorite device, a series of rapid ninth chords. The second chorus settles into a slow 4/4 and there is a lovely afterthought ending.
Nice Work If You Can Get It has some humorous interchanges of ad lib and straight tempo, and a surprising, fast jazz coda.
Black Coffee is a great accomplishment in construction. Reflective and funky in turn, it uses the entire range of the keyboard to make its point.
The closing number is Irving Berlin's Cheek to Cheek, which shows off Lou's versatility. It has wonderful good-naturedness, some driving jazz and a piquant dissonance for the good-bye.
Although this is essentially a jazz album, it will be appreciated by more than the jazz coterie of fans. The tunes are always recognizable, and the piano playing displayed is the perfect relaxed "party piano". There is always a great sense of assurance, of playing on a large scale; there is intensity, humor, reflection and showmanship. When the time comes for Lou Levy to decide to really strike out as a soloist, a lot of already firmly established pianists will have to put in extra hours to keep their places secure.”
ANDRE PREVIN Radio Corporation of America. 1956
For the his second offering on RCA, Lou turned to a quartet format with Larry on vibes. Stan Levey is on drums for both the quartet and Leroy Vinnegar on bass.
Entitled Jazz in Four Colors/Lou Levy Quartet [RCA ND 74401], here are Shorty and Lou’s comments about the album:
“In planning this album, Lou and I spent much time trying to figure out a "different" instrumentation. This was no small problem in face of the fact that so many albums are being made today. While trying to figure out an instrumentation Lou went to work on a job that enabled him to renew one of his favorite musical acquaintances: Larry Bunker on vibes. Lou and Larry enjoyed playing together and made a wonderful nucleus for a quartet. This also presented the possibility of forming a group that could record and appear in public.
This album could be called "the birth of the Lou Levy Quartet." and I must say that it was a privilege and a great thrill to be a witness to the birth of this swingin', tasty, musical baby.
Here to tell you about the album is Lou Levy I the proud father.”
SHORTY ROGERS
“Through working in various bands. I found the men who had just what I wanted for this album. Creativeness, plus down-home musical authority . . . namely, Larry Bunker, Stan Levey, and Leroy Vinnegar.
Stan was my first acquaintance. I met him in Boyd Raeburn's band, Galveston, Texas, around '47. The band included Maynard Ferguson on his first job in the States. Stan had been playing with "Diz" and "The Bird" all through the '40s and the experience really showed in his playing. He did everything great. That was the only job I've ever worked with Stan, but that experience, and hearing Stan lately, sold me on him.
Larry was next. We worked a very short time together in Georgie Auld's Quartet four years back, at which time Larry played drums and vibes: then came a job a year back with Barney Kessel, where I really found out about Larry's vibes. He played only vibes on the job and swung all the time. Larry and I now both work with Peggy Lee, so that's three jobs together.
Leroy and I are from the Midwest, but didn't meet until a year ago in Hollywood. Conte Candoli introduced us on the bandstand at Jazz City, and a few months later we worked a short engagement together at Zardi's in a wonderful quintet led by Stan Getz . . . also including Conte and Shelly Manne. Other than a half dozen albums, that was the only time I worked with Leroy. He is a thrill to work with, and anyone who has worked with him will bear me out. His time is perfect and he never stops swinging.
Since Stan works at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach. Leroy works with Shelley Marine's group, and Larry and I are with Peggy Lee — it was evident that we wouldn't have time to rehearse before the session — that all music on the date would be "new" to us. So. in two dates — March 31st and April 4th — we worked out, rehearsed and recorded ten tunes, as follows:
TUNE UP — A Miles Davis original with unique chord changes that present an interesting challenge to any soloist. Larry and I play two choruses each. We then split the 32-bar chorus into four 8-bar sections played by Larry, Stan, myself and Leroy. in that order. The next chorus is split into eight 4-bar sections. The final chorus is melody followed by a fade ending in which Larry plays a real interesting ascending line.
WITHOUT YOU - This was an Andy Russell number in Walt Disney’s "Make Mine Music." It is also a very unusual tune in chord structure but everyone seems right at home on this. There is a bass pickup into the first chorus. I play one and Larry and Leroy split one before the out chorus.
WAIL STREET - This is Barney Kessel's original. Built in D minor, it employs cycles of fifths in excellent taste. After the piano intro. the tune rolls right through the melody chorus into Larry’s two choruses. Larry's solo is definitely one of the brightest spot in the album. All his imagination and swing really show here. I take two choruses: the ensemble and Stan exchange four bars: we walk the bridge and finish up with an extended ending featuring Larry.
STAR EYES — The drums and intro. in general, present a mild Latin flavor that is maintained throughout most of the melody passages. This is eliminated for all the jazz solos This tune is another example of how great Stan and Leroy sound on a "groove" tempo. They make it a pleasure at all times. The routine on the introduction is reversed and used as an ending.
THE LADY IS A TRAMP - This number completes the first side and is done by the trio minus the vibes. I had played this arrangement before on local trio jobs. After the first chorus, there are three piano choruses building up to one chorus of "walking" and one chorus out with an extended ending that has a slight flavor of "ragtime."
THE GRAY FOX — This is an up-tempo original. There's an eight-bar piano intro, followed by the first ensemble chorus and an extension and break leading into Larry's two choruses. The piano solo of two choruses is introduced by an interlude and break. Then a chorus is split between Stan and Leroy. The piano intro is repeated and into the out chorus with an extended ending. I'm very happy with this tune as it shows the effort made to have an organized interesting date.
BUTTON UP YOUR OVERCOAT - One chorus of ensemble into one for Larry. I do a chorus and a half, and Leroy has the bridge. We finish out with an extended ending. This is another "groove" for Leroy and Stan.
IMAGINATION - Here is a display of Larry's great sensitivity on vibes. To get so much from this instrument is a rarity. Except for the second bridge, it's all Larry.
GAL IN CALICO — We used a simple introduction and open fourth voicing throughout the ensemble section. There are suggestions of western music, especially in the intro and ending. Larry and I get two choruses each, and Leroy and Stan split a chorus of fours. As a curious note, this was the only number that required more than two takes. But we're happy with the results.
INDIANA — The final tune on the date. Trio only. Shorty suggested doing the first chorus ad-lib, the manner in which I handled most of the tunes for The Solo Scene (RCA Victor LPM-1267) album. There is abundance of chord alterations, but this tune has been recorded frequently, so a new flavor was in order. The tune is not breakneck tempo, but pretty well up. Three piano choruses lead into a wonderfully organized chorus of drums. The out chorus is followed by a B.G.-type tag ending. [“B.G.” = Benny Goodman]
Without getting too flowery, I'd like to say that I'm more than happy with the performances of the men individually, as well as collectively. After doing this date. I was all the more sure that someday soon I would take this group on the road. It may not be possible to get the same men, but if I come close, that's great.
To Shorty Rogers, who sat in the booth through all the recording, a large share of credit is due. If I'm the "Proud Papa," let's make Shorty "Godfather."
LOU LEVY
In 1957, Lou selected a trio format with Max Bennett on bass and Stan Levey on drums when he recorded A Most Musical Fella: The Lou Levy Trio [RCA 74321665052] for which he wrote the following liner notes.
In planning this album, intentions were to do it with three difFerent groups, with the first four tunes to be done by a trio. But after the first date we were so happy with the results that it was decided to make the whole thing with the trio. There is no doubt that the personnel on this album was the deciding factor. The trio jelled too well to do anything but a complete trio album.
Side one opens with Night and Day. Stan starts it by playing the pattern of the verse melody on a cymbal. It sounded so good that this was a natural for a starter. The arrangement is rather bright and features an opening chorus alternating between a Latin and swing feel.
Angel Eyes, Matt Dennis' lovely tune, is treated as we believe he intended — very delicately from the introduction into one and a half choruses. The second bridge has a double-time feel but this is not intended to be jazzy; it felt natural and sounded good to all of us.
Lou's Blues is a very simple original done mainly to satisfy the desire to relax and play the blues. After having to play somewhat involved arrangements, the blues is always a ball.
Yesterdays gave me a chance to play solo piano, at least the first chorus. The second chorus is in tempo and is what I'd call a natural rhythmic impression of the original tune.
Apartment 17 is my original, very bright and sixty-four bars long. It's the kind of tune that keeps you thinking, as it's always going somewhere.
The second side opens with How About You, a standard jazz tune that affords many opportunities for chord alterations moving under the melody. These fast moving progressions are. for the most part, dropped, although Max uses them to good advantage at the opening of the second chorus.
Baubles, Bangles and Beads, a wonderful tune from "Kismet" that was recorded so beautifully a few years back by one of my present employers. Peggy Lee. It is a tune that offers wonderful opportunities for improvising, although you'll notice that the largest portion of the melody was treated with deserved calm.
Woody 'n 'Lou is a bright original, based harmonically on Dizzy's RCA Victor recording of Algo Buena. The chromatic progression of this tune is the one used in How About You. I'll venture to say it's one of the most comfortable progressions for "blowing."
We'll Be Together Again is ad-lib solo piano until the second eight, and then in tempo until the end. The introduction is re-used as an ending. I'd like to add that this tune has great personal meaning to me, so I jumped at recording it.
The last tune on the date is I’ll Remember April and we only made one take. Personally. I got carried away and played quite a few choruses, but there was so much excitement during this take we knew we couldn't reach that point again.
What I'm going to say now is not directed at musicians or people that can evaluate music on their own; it's more for people with a love for music and a lack of knowledge concerning it.
The chord alterations and substitute progressions are added to modern jazz mainly for two reasons: to improve the accompaniment to the melody and to give the jazzman a more interesting cycle of chords to improvise with. I find that many songwriters find the approach most refreshing. In fact, I have yet to hear one speak against it.
I also think the public has been frequently misled as to what modern jazz really is. I've seen numerous TV shows with major personalities trying to define modern jazz. These people are not jazz musicians, so immediately this should disqualify them. If you really want to learn to appreciate modern jazz, listen to the people who play it and live with it. It offers mental and physical satisfaction, and if you're not getting that now. try again — because you're missing an awful lot.”
LOU LEVY
All three of these RCA recordings have been prepared for CD release by Jordi Pujol and can be purchased through the Fresh Sound website.
