(West Coast Jazz) Bud Shank & Bill Perkins - Bud Shank & Bill Perkins - 1998, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Bud Shank and Bill Perkins burst upon the mid fifties jazz scene due mainly to several well planned and executed albums produced by Dick Bock for his Pacific Jazz label. The demand for these albums was not restricted to the United States, it extended from London to Melbourne and from Paris to Johannesburg and all points in-between where jazz flourished.
Shank's reputation began to acquire momentum in 1954 with the release of the first Laurindo Almeida/Bud Shank Quartet albums for Pacific Jazz which garnered rave reviews in Down Beat and prefigured the bossa nova movement. Shank's alto sax and flute artistry was firmly established that same year with the release of his first album as leader for the Nocturne label. The combined exposure that these albums afforded Shank was instrumental in his being awarded the "New Star Alto Winner" in Down Beat's 1954 Critic's Poll and Metronome's "Musician of the Year" award in their Jazz 1955 Yearbook. Bock lost no time in getting Shank into the studio to record for Pacific Jazz and would record and release two albums with Shank as leader over the next year.
Bill Perkins' reputation was also on the rise in 1955. He had been a featured soloist on a number of recordings for the Stan Kenton and Woody Herman bands in 1954. Perkins continued to play and record at every opportunity in 1955: with Conte Candoli, Barney Kessel, Al Cohn, Richie Kamuca, and Stan Kenton. This surge of recorded activity did not go unnoticed and Perkins earned the "New Star Tenor Sax" award in Down Beat's 1955 Critic's Poll. When Perkins was back in Hollywood in February of 1956 with the Kenton band, Bock spirited Perkins away between Kenton recording sessions, one day recording Perkins as leader of his own octet, and the next day as co-leader with John Lewis in a quintet setting that framed Perkins' eloquent tenor playing. It is unfortunate that Bock wasn't able to get Shank and Perkins together again, as the first set of tunes presented here demonstrate.
"Paradise" gets the session off to a swinging start with both Shank and Perkins on alto, Shank soloing first followed by Perkins. "Fluted Columns" is presented twice, a master version which appeared on the LP release as well as a shorter take which was released on EP and an LP sampler for the label. Shank solos first and Perkins second on both versions. "I Hear Music" and "It Had To Be You" feature both men on tenor. Perkins solos first on "I Hear Music" and Shank takes the first solo on "It Had To Be You." Shank switches to baritone for "Royal Garden Blues" and Perkins assumes alto chores for this intricate arrangement of the standard. "A Sinner Kissed An Angel," finds Shank and Perkins back on their primary instruments, alto and tenor.
Dick Bock would begin taping a session as soon as the rhythm section was assembled. This would allow him to get the microphone balance correct and it often would yield additional tunes that he could release on anthologies. The Hampton Hawes trio track, "I Hear Music," and the Jimmy Rowles trio track, "Sonny Speaks," are examples of this practice.
The four tracks with Russ Freeman from a February 1956 session were to have been part of an entire album with Freeman as leader. The album was never completed and the resulting tunes were released on a variety of Jazz West Coast anthologies variously as as the Russ Freeman-Bill Perkins Quintet, the Russ Freeman Quartet, and the Bud Shank-Russ Freeman Quartet. On "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?" Shank plays on the opening chorus, but his solo was edited from the final master for the intended album.
In 1956 Bock paired Bill Perkins with two saxophone stars of the time, Richie Kamuca and Art Pepper, in quintet settings as a leader. At the December recording session with Pepper, Bock also taped Perkins with the rhythm section only for the quartet tune offered here, "Angel Eyes."
The concluding track, "Ain't Got A Dime To My Name," from a session in 1958, is the only surviving tune from that date. Discographies have listed two other tunes which were supposedly recorded, but no record of these exists in the Pacific Jazz tape archive. Perkins recalls that the recording session didn't go well. He had changed his style of playing from his earlier date as leader for Bock in 1956 for his octet album, and Bock did not like the new Perkins sound. Plans for the album were dropped.
These sessions, assembled here for the first time on CD, display the multi-reed artistry of Shank and Perkins, and provide a swinging sampling of some of the top rhythm men playing in Hollywood at the time: Hampton Hawes, Russ Freeman, and Jimmy Rowles on piano; Red Mitchell, Carson Smith, Leroy Vinnegar, and Ben Tucker on bass; and Mel Lewis and Shelly Manne on drums. Everyone shines on this reissue of classic Pacific Jazz sessions.
—James A. Harrod (jazz researcher/archivist currently at work on a history and discography of the Pacific Jazz label)