Shelly Manne & His Men – At The Black Hawk Vol. 1

Three nights at the Black Hawk

In September 1959, Shelly Manne brought his quintet to the Black Hawk in San Francisco. The club at Turk and Hyde Streets provided the setting for music made in front of an immediate audience. Lester Koenig arranged for Howard Holzer to record the engagement from 22 to 24 September. Four Contemporary LPs initially emerged from those nights. At the Black Hawk, Vol. 1 therefore opens a window onto a working band's multi-night engagement, rather than a concert staged specifically to produce one record.

Manne's colleagues were Joe Gordon on trumpet, Richie Kamuca on tenor saxophone, Victor Feldman on piano and Monty Budwig on bass. The same quintet appears throughout the other volumes. This first album combines three performances from opening night with two from the final evening: “Summertime”, “Our Delight” and “Poinciana” were recorded on 22 September, while “Blue Daniel” and the closing theme come from the 24th. It preserves a club band's working relationship within a deliberately selected album sequence.

Leading from the drum kit

Manne had worked with Woody Herman and Stan Kenton before settling on the West Coast. Hollywood was also part of his professional life: for The Man with the Golden Arm, he helped Frank Sinatra portray a drummer. At the Black Hawk, however, his own group takes priority. The following year he became a co-owner of Shelly's Manne-Hole in Hollywood. Regular work in front of a club audience was a substantial part of the musical environment in which this band operated.

Gordon brought experience with Charlie Parker, Art Blakey and Dizzy Gillespie. Kamuca had passed through the Kenton and Herman bands, while London-born Feldman played vibraphone and drums as well as piano; on this recording, piano is his role. Their different histories meet Budwig's bass and Manne's drums. Listen particularly to the transitions between soloists. Those moments offer a way to follow how five musicians keep an extended performance moving, adjusting their responsibilities without interrupting its larger shape.

Four long performances and a tiny farewell

Side one consists entirely of “Summertime” and Tadd Dameron's “Our Delight”, each approaching twelve minutes. “Poinciana” and Frank Rosolino's “Blue Daniel” follow on the second side. The compact demands of a single are irrelevant here. Themes can be introduced, handed between players and revisited after substantial improvised passages. The waltz of “Blue Daniel” introduces another rhythmic framework, giving the quintet a different setting from the preceding selections and broadening the shape of the programme.

Bill Holman's “Theme: A Gem from Tiffany” closes the record in roughly seventeen seconds. After the extended performances, that brief sign-off recalls the practical business of ending a club set. Edition history matters here too. Another take of “Blue Daniel” was added to the later OJC CD, but it is not included on this LP. A tracklist showing the title twice describes a different selection from the Black Hawk recordings rather than the contents of this particular reissue.

Volume one in the Acoustic Sounds Series

ACONC 601 is Craft's Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds Series reissue on a single 180-gram LP. Bernie Grundman cut the lacquers, with the manufacturer describing an all-analogue path from the original tapes. Quality Record Pressings manufactured the vinyl, which is housed in a tip-on jacket. The five entries comprise four extended performances and the short closing theme. These details identify this edition and should not be confused with the separate cutting and pressing history of an earlier Analogue Productions release.

The project's later expansion also helps explain what this record offers. The original four volumes acquired additional material on CD, including a fifth volume devoted to previously unissued performances. Volume one nevertheless remains a coherent point of entry. It is not a chronological presentation of everything played over three evenings. It is a chosen sequence that lets soloists, rhythm section and repertoire develop together over longer stretches. That opportunity is central to the Black Hawk project and to the particular value of hearing this working quintet in a club.

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Series: Contemporary – all 24 records: sunny jazz from Los Angeles

Musicians

Personnel for this album version are documented. Track-specific participation is shown in the final column.