Stan Levey - Blues at Sunrise (1956)

Sonny Clark Obscurities, cont’d:

Before he was an in-demand composer, leader and house pianist on some of Blue Note’s most celebrated recordings, Sonny Clark first made his reputation as a “west coast jazz” pianist, though his roots were close to Pittsburgh in Herminie, PA.

Having moved to San Francisco with his brother in 1951, Clark eventually caught on with Buddy DeFranco and played with him for three years, and then spent much of 1956 in Los Angeles as a member of Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars.

This recording represents Clark’s last west-coast session with what amounts to Howard Rumsey’s All-Stars without Rumsey, but with the venerable Leroy Vinnegar filling in on bass. This is the first recording of Clark’s composition better known as “Blues Blue.” Conte Candoli stars on trumpet.

Little-known fact: Stan Levey was the son of a prizefight promoter and a boxer turned drummer, and he reportedly introduced Miles Davis to boxing when they roomed together in New York City. Levey was playing with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker in 1945 and was making music into the 1970s until becoming a commercial photographer. As his wife was quoted in his obituary, “he seldom talked about his days as a musician, and many of his friends did not even know he had been one.”

Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars - Octavia (1956)

Sonny Clark Obscurities, cont’d:

Clark’s up-tempo blues from the same LP is a study in contrast with saxophonist Bob Cooper’s ballad “Octavia.” The former gets Clark’s patented hard-bop treatment, but his moody, languorous opening lines here coax sensitive, beautiful turns from both he and Cooper. Aces.

Serge Chaloff - Stairway to the Stars (1956)

Sonny Clark Obscurities, cont’d:

From the liner notes:

Chaloff worked his way across the country, often working in the alto/baritone frontline format that he’d used in Boston with Mariano and Mussulli. In Chicago, it was Lou Donaldson. And in Los Angeles, it was Sonny Stitt. That gig which included Kenny Drew, Leroy Vinnegar and Lawrence Marable, led to the recording of Blue Serge, Chaloff’s crowning achievement.

Sonny Clark may have subbed for [Kenny] Drew for part of the gig or been recommended by other musicians. Clark’s clarion hard bop style and his compositions had caused some notice in 1954-55 with Buddy DeFranco’s group. At this point, he was freelancing around LA and working with the Lighthouse All-Stars. Six months after the Blue Serge date, he appeared on and wrote half the tunes for a wonderful Lawrence Marable album Tenorman on Aladdin’s Jazz West label. But his reputation would not flourish until April 1957 when he left Dinah Washington’s tour in New York and came to the attention of Blue Note Records, where he became house pianist for dozens of brilliant sessions and became a recording artist in his own right. 

From Serge Chaloff’s own liner notes:

I’d never worked with these guys before except for jamming briefly with Philly Joe Jones eight years ago, but I knew from hearing them what they could do. We walked into the session cold. It was an afternoon session, and not having rehearsed together, we were naturally a little stiff. Then the producer tried a little trick that’s worked before in situations like that. He dimmed the lights way down low to make it more like a nightclub—the musician’s atmosphere. It worked like a charm; we really got blowing after that. 

Like a charm.

Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars - I Deal (1956)

Sonny Clark Obscurities, cont’d:

From Howard Rumsey’s liner notes to the album:

Sonny Clark, pianist, is the junior member of the group, having just completed his first year. He is twenty-four years old , comes from Pittsburgh, and has already appeared in Europe with Buddy DeFranco. Sonny is very talented, shows promise as a composer-arranger, besides a great approach to his instrument. We feel he is a newcomer who bears watching.

On this Clark composition, the horns lay out and give him a chance to showcase his feel for the blues, and he demonstrates his legendary hard bop flow. It helps his cause that the assembled cast are some of the strongest west coast players from the era.

[left to right] Hank Mobley, Donald Byrd, Horace Silver, Billy Taylor and Art Blakey in 1956 (photo by Pannonica de Koenigswarter)

Four-fifths of the 1956 edition of the Jazz Messengers (minus Doug Watkins)

Lawrence Marable - Marbles (1956)

Sonny Clark Obscurities, cont’d:

This is the first appearance of this Clark composition; it resurfaces later on the 1962 Jackie McLean Quintet session as Blues In a Jiff.

This would be one of Clark’s last west coast studio recordings before heading east to New York City. If you know anything about Sonny Clark’s last six years there, you’ll know why NYC’s No Lark.

Frank Rosolino - Flamingo (1956)

Sonny Clark Obscurities, cont’d:

Clark crossed paths in Los Angeles with Frank Rosolino—a distinctive trombone voice from the Detroit school—during their stint together with Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars. In the liner notes to Sonny Clark Trio, Leonard Feather quotes Clark on his feelings for west coast jazz, as well as Rosolino:

“The fellows out on the west coast have a different sort of feeling, a different approach to jazz. They swing in their own way. But Stan Levey, Frank Rosolino and Conte Candoli were a very big help; of course they all worked back in the east for a long time during the early part of their careers, and I think they have more of the feeling of the eastern vein than you usually find in the musicians out west. The eastern musicians play with so much fire and passion.”

Serge Chaloff - Thanks for the Memory (1956)

From London Jazz Collector:

“Blue Serge is a masterpiece of precisely executed bop lines and tender renderings of ballads. Chaloff’s effective use of dynamics and vibrato captures the heart of tunes like “I’ve Got the World on a String” and “Stairway to the Stars.” The rapport of the group is impressive for musicians who had not previously worked with Chaloff, and apparently Chaloff decided to have the lights turned low while recording this session, which exudes a distinctly after-hours relaxed ambience.”

Discovering this recently on account of Sonny Clark’s presence on the piano, this recording is a beautiful listening experience: soulful, moody, and incisive where it counts.

J.R. Monterose and Kenny Dorham during Dorham’s ‘Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia live session, May 31 1956 (photo by Francis Wolff)

Ira Sullivan during the J.R. Monterose session, Hackensack NJ, October 21 1956 (photo by Francis Wolff)

John Coltrane during Paul Chambers’ Whims of Chambers session, Hackensack NJ, September 21 1956 (photo by Francis Wolff)

Thelonious Monk - I Surrender, Dear (1956)

Another tidbit from Robin Kelley’s Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original:

After completing “Bemsha Swing” they had about twenty minutes to vacate the studio and were still five minutes short of a completed album. Monk saved the session, filling the void with a “flawless five and a half minutes of ‘I Surrender, Dear.’”

Kenny Burrell during Thad Jones’ Detroit - New York Junction session, Audio-Visual Studios, New York City, March 13 1956 (photo by Francis Wolff)

Wilbur Ware during the J.R. Monterose session, Hackensack NJ, October 21 1956 (photo by Francis Wolff)

Louis Armstrong on the MGM set of “High Society,” 1956 (photo by Bob Willoughby)

Note: Check out Bob Willoughby’s Flickr page for more jazz photos from the photographer himself.