West coast jazz
Encyclopedia
West Coast jazz refers to various styles of jazz
music that developed around Los Angeles
and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a sub-genre of cool jazz
, which featured a less frenetic, calmer style than bebop
or hard bop
. The music tended to be more heavily arranged
, and more often composition-based. While this style was prominent for a while, it was by no means the only style of jazz played on the West Coast, which exhibited more variety than could be conveyed by a simple name.
, the West Coast of the United States
had hosted a bustling music scene, though its activity remained largely localized.
In 1917, Jelly Roll Morton
moved to California
, and remained in Los Angeles until 1922, when he left for Chicago
. Kid Ory
formed a band in Los Angeles after moving to California in 1919.
In 1944, Norman Granz
began staging Jazz at the Philharmonic
shows at Philharmonic Auditorium
in Los Angeles. In 1946, Ross Russell
established Dial Records
in Hollywood, with the purpose of recording Charlie Parker
during his sojourn in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, a thriving jazz scene had appeared along Los Angeless Central Avenue
, featuring musicians such as Dexter Gordon
, Wardell Gray
, Teddy Edwards
, Charles Mingus
, and Buddy Collette
. Central Avenue's activity rivaled that of the earlier Kansas City jazz
scene, but at the time it was little-known outside of Los Angeles.
In 1947, Woody Herman
organized a new band, the Second Herd, in Los Angeles. The Second Herd included tenor saxophonists Stan Getz
, Zoot Sims
, and Herbie Steward
, and baritone saxophonist
Serge Chaloff
. The resulting "Four Brothers" sound (named for the Jimmy Giuffre
composition, "Four Brothers," which highlighted this group) was a precursor of the cool style.
participated in the Miles Davis
Nonet, contributing arrangements to the recordings that were later compiled
as Birth of the Cool
(1957). In 1952, Mulligan, who had relocated to California, formed an innovative and successful pianoless quartet with trumpeter Chet Baker
, drummer Chico Hamilton
, and bassist Bob Whitlock. Mulligan would later form a decet
based on the Birth of the Cool nonet.
In 1951, Stan Kenton
disbanded his Innovations Orchestra in Los Angeles. Many of the musicians, some of whom had also played in Woody Herman's band, chose to remain in California. Trumpeter Shorty Rogers
and drummer Shelly Manne
were central figures among this group of musicians. Much of this activity centered around the Hermosa Beach
Lighthouse Café
, where bassist
Howard Rumsey
led a house band
, the Lighthouse All-Stars. Manne suggested that these musicians' relaxed lifestyle in California was reflected in a laid-back, relaxed approach to jazz.
Chico Hamilton, during the 1950s, led an ensemble that – unusually for a jazz group – included a cellist
, Fred Katz
. Tanner, Gerow, and Megill liken Hamilton's music to chamber music
, and have noted that Hamilton's "subtle rhythmic control and use of different drum pitches and timbres" was well-suited for this style of music.
In 1951, pianist Dave Brubeck
hired alto saxophonist Paul Desmond
, forming a quartet. Desmond's playing style ran counter to bebop, as he seldom used blues
elements, and was influenced by Pete Brown
and Benny Carter
rather than Charlie Parker.
The Pacific Jazz
and Contemporary
record label
s were two of the best known that carried West Coast jazz, just as Blue Note
was the biggest hard-bop label. Some of the major pioneers of West Coast jazz were Shorty Rogers, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Bud Shank
, Bob Cooper
, Jimmy Giuffre, Shelly Manne, Russ Freeman
, Bill Holman
, André Previn
, and Dave Brubeck with Paul Desmond.
notes that this is not surprising: by the late 1940s, the Central Avenue scene had the most bebop musicians outside of New York. Max Roach
and Clifford Brown
, Shelly Manne, and Curtis Counce
all established harder-sounding bands in Los Angeles.
and his associates in California, "west coast" merely becomes synonymous with "cool jazz," although Lester Young
, Claude Thornhill
, and Miles Davis
were based in New York. At the same time, many musicians associated with West Coast jazz "were much more involved in a hotter approach to jazz. Communication being what it is, it is hardly likely that any style of jazz was fostered exclusively in one area."
Some jazz critics, such as French critic Hugues Panassié
, looked down upon West Coast jazz because most of its musicians were white
. However, there were a sizable number of African American
musicians who played in the style, such as Curtis Counce, Chico Hamilton, Buddy Collette and Hampton Hawes
.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
music that developed around Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a sub-genre of cool jazz
Cool jazz
Cool is a style of modern jazz music that arose following the Second World War. It is characterized by its relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the bebop style that preceded it...
, which featured a less frenetic, calmer style than bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
or hard bop
Hard bop
Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...
. The music tended to be more heavily arranged
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
, and more often composition-based. While this style was prominent for a while, it was by no means the only style of jazz played on the West Coast, which exhibited more variety than could be conveyed by a simple name.
Background
Prior to World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the West Coast of the United States
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
had hosted a bustling music scene, though its activity remained largely localized.
In 1917, Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....
moved to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and remained in Los Angeles until 1922, when he left for Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Kid Ory
Kid Ory
Edward "Kid" Ory was a jazz trombonist and bandleader. He was born in Woodland Plantation near LaPlace, Louisiana.-Biography:...
formed a band in Los Angeles after moving to California in 1919.
In 1944, Norman Granz
Norman Granz
Norman Granz was an American jazz music impresario and producer.Granz was a fundamental figure in American jazz, especially from about 1947 to 1960...
began staging Jazz at the Philharmonic
Jazz at the Philharmonic
Jazz at the Philharmonic, or JATP, was the title of a series of jazz concerts, tours and recordings produced by Norman Granz....
shows at Philharmonic Auditorium
Hazard's Pavilion
Hazard's Pavilion was a large auditorium in Los Angeles, California, located at the intersection of Fifth and Olive Streets. Showman George "Roundhouse" Lehman had planned to construct a large theatre center on the land he purchased at this location, but he went broke and the property was sold to...
in Los Angeles. In 1946, Ross Russell
Ross Russell
Ross Russell was an American jazz producer and author. He was the founder of Dial Records....
established Dial Records
Dial Records (1946)
Dial Records was a United States based record label specializing in bebop jazz. Dial was founded by Ross Russell in 1946, who operated the label for about a decade. Notable artists who recorded for Dial included Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Max Roach, and Milt Jackson...
in Hollywood, with the purpose of recording Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
during his sojourn in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, a thriving jazz scene had appeared along Los Angeless Central Avenue
Central Avenue (Los Angeles)
Central Avenue is a major north-south thoroughfare in the central portion of the Los Angeles, California metropolitan area. Located just to the west of the Alameda Corridor, it runs from the eastern end of the Los Angeles Civic Center south, ending at Del Amo Boulevard in Carson...
, featuring musicians such as Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and an Academy Award-nominated actor . He is regarded as one of the first and most important musicians to adapt the bebop musical language of people like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell to the tenor saxophone...
, Wardell Gray
Wardell Gray
Wardell Gray was an American jazz tenor saxophonist who straddled the swing and bebop periods.Today often overlooked, Gray's playing displays a unique style, an unmatched tone and a strong presence.-Early years:...
, Teddy Edwards
Teddy Edwards
Theodore Marcus "Teddy" Edwards was an American jazz tenor saxophonist based on the West Coast of the US. Some consider him to be one of the most influential jazz saxophonists.-Biography:...
, Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
, and Buddy Collette
Buddy Collette
William Marcel "Buddy" Collette was an American tenor saxophonist, flautist, and clarinetist. He was highly influential in the West coast jazz and West Coast blues mediums, also collaborating with saxophonist Dexter Gordon, drummer Chico Hamilton, and his lifelong friend, bassist Charles...
. Central Avenue's activity rivaled that of the earlier Kansas City jazz
Kansas City Jazz
Kansas City Jazz is a style of jazz that developed in Kansas City, Missouri and the surrounding Kansas City Metropolitan Area during the 1930s and marked the transition from the structured big band style to the musical improvisation style of Bebop...
scene, but at the time it was little-known outside of Los Angeles.
In 1947, Woody Herman
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...
organized a new band, the Second Herd, in Los Angeles. The Second Herd included tenor saxophonists Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
, Zoot Sims
Zoot Sims
John Haley "Zoot" Sims was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor and soprano.-Biography:He was born in Inglewood, California, the son of vaudeville performers Kate Haley and John Sims. Growing up in a performing family, Sims learned to play both drums and clarinet at an early age...
, and Herbie Steward
Herbie Steward
Herbert Steward , is an American jazz saxophonist.He is best known for being the tenor saxophone player in Four Brothers, part of Woody Herman's Second Herd.-Discography:...
, and baritone saxophonist
Baritone saxophone
The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
Serge Chaloff
Serge Chaloff
Serge Chaloff was an American jazz baritone saxophonist.The son of noted Boston piano teachers, Margaret and Julius Chaloff, he was among the few major jazz performers on his instrument. Until Chaloff the only prominent baritone player in jazz was Harry Carney of the Duke Ellington Orchestra...
. The resulting "Four Brothers" sound (named for the Jimmy Giuffre
Jimmy Giuffre
James Peter Giuffre was an American jazz clarinet and saxophone player, composer and arranger. He is notable for his development of forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating forms of free improvisation.-Biography:Born in Dallas, Texas, of Italian ancestry,...
composition, "Four Brothers," which highlighted this group) was a precursor of the cool style.
Development
During 1949 and 1950, baritone saxophonist Gerry MulliganGerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also...
participated in the Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
Nonet, contributing arrangements to the recordings that were later compiled
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
as Birth of the Cool
Birth of the Cool
Birth of the Cool is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1957 on Capitol Records. It compiles twelve songs recorded by Davis's nonet for the label over the course of three sessions during 1949 and 1950...
(1957). In 1952, Mulligan, who had relocated to California, formed an innovative and successful pianoless quartet with trumpeter Chet Baker
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
, drummer Chico Hamilton
Chico Hamilton
Chico Hamilton , is an American jazz drummer and bandleader.-Early life through 1960s:Hamilton was born in Los Angeles, California. He had a fast-track musical education in a band with Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet, Ernie Royal, Dexter Gordon, Buddy Collette and Jack Kelso...
, and bassist Bob Whitlock. Mulligan would later form a decet
Decet (music)
In music, a decet—sometimes dectet, decimette, or even tentet —is a composition which requires ten musicians for a performance, or a musical group that consists of ten people. The corresponding German word is dezett, the French is dixtuor...
based on the Birth of the Cool nonet.
In 1951, Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
disbanded his Innovations Orchestra in Los Angeles. Many of the musicians, some of whom had also played in Woody Herman's band, chose to remain in California. Trumpeter Shorty Rogers
Shorty Rogers
Milton “Shorty” Rogers , born Milton Rajonsky in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, was one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played both the trumpet and flugelhorn, and was in demand for his skills as an arranger. Rogers worked first as a professional musician with Will Bradley and...
and drummer Shelly Manne
Shelly Manne
Shelly Manne , born Sheldon Manne in New York City, was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, swing, bebop, avant-garde jazz and fusion, as well as contributing...
were central figures among this group of musicians. Much of this activity centered around the Hermosa Beach
Hermosa Beach, California
Hermosa Beach is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Its population was 19,506 at the 2010 census, up from 18,566 at the 2000 census....
Lighthouse Café
Lighthouse Café
The Lighthouse Café is a nightclub located at 30 Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach, California. It has been active as a jazz showcase since 1949 and, under the name "The Lighthouse", was one of the central West Coast jazz clubs from the 1950s through the late 1970s....
, where bassist
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
Howard Rumsey
Howard Rumsey
Howard Rumsey is a Californian bassist primarily known for his leadership of the Los Angeles group the Lighthouse All-Stars in the 1950s.-Life:...
led a house band
House band
For the British band that existed from 1984-2001, see The House BandA house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to...
, the Lighthouse All-Stars. Manne suggested that these musicians' relaxed lifestyle in California was reflected in a laid-back, relaxed approach to jazz.
Chico Hamilton, during the 1950s, led an ensemble that – unusually for a jazz group – included a cellist
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, Fred Katz
Fred Katz (cellist)
Fred Katz is an American cellist and composer. He is notable as one of the first jazz musicians to establish the cello as a viable improvising solo instrument. Katz has been described in CODA magazine as "the first real jazz cellist." Cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm Fred Katz (born February 25, 1919 in...
. Tanner, Gerow, and Megill liken Hamilton's music to chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, and have noted that Hamilton's "subtle rhythmic control and use of different drum pitches and timbres" was well-suited for this style of music.
In 1951, pianist Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck
David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
hired alto saxophonist Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond , born Paul Emil Breitenfeld, was a jazz alto saxophonist and composer born in San Francisco, best known for the work he did in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for penning that group's greatest hit, "Take Five"...
, forming a quartet. Desmond's playing style ran counter to bebop, as he seldom used blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
elements, and was influenced by Pete Brown
Pete Brown (jazz musician)
James Ostend "Pete" Brown was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader....
and Benny Carter
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King...
rather than Charlie Parker.
The Pacific Jazz
Pacific Jazz Records
Pacific Jazz Records was a Los Angeles-based record label best known for releasing cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded by Richard Bock and drummer Roy Harte in 1952....
and Contemporary
Contemporary Records
Contemporary Records was a jazz record label founded by Lester Koenig in 1951 in Los Angeles. Contemporary was known for seminal recordings embodying the West Coast sound, but also released recordings based in New York...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
s were two of the best known that carried West Coast jazz, just as Blue Note
Blue note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
was the biggest hard-bop label. Some of the major pioneers of West Coast jazz were Shorty Rogers, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Bud Shank
Bud Shank
Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank, Jr. was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and throughout the decade worked in various small jazz combos. He spent the 1960s as a first...
, Bob Cooper
Bob Cooper (musician)
Bob Cooper was a West Coast jazz musician known primarily for playing tenor saxophone, but also for being one of the first to play solos on oboe. He worked in Stan Kenton's band starting in 1945 and married the band's singer June Christy...
, Jimmy Giuffre, Shelly Manne, Russ Freeman
Russ Freeman (pianist)
Russell Donald Freeman was a bebop and cool jazz pianist and composer.Initially, Freeman was classically trained...
, Bill Holman
Bill Holman (musician)
Willis Leonard Holman , known also as Bill Holman, is an American composer/arranger, conductor, saxophonist, and songwriter working primarily in the jazz idiom....
, André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
, and Dave Brubeck with Paul Desmond.
California Hard
While West Coast jazz is often likened to the cool style, a number of Los Angeles musicians, locally known as "Hard Swingers," "blew bop as tough as anything emerging out of Detroit and New York…." In later years, their music was known as "California Hard." Roy CarrRoy Carr
Roy Carr is an English music journalist. He joined the New Musical Express in the late 1960s and has edited NME, VOX and Melody Maker magazines...
notes that this is not surprising: by the late 1940s, the Central Avenue scene had the most bebop musicians outside of New York. Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
and Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown , aka "Brownie," was an influential and highly rated American jazz trumpeter. He died aged 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings...
, Shelly Manne, and Curtis Counce
Curtis Counce
Curtis Counce was an American hard bop and West Coast jazz double bassist. The fruit of his 1956 Contemporary Records studio collaboration with tenor saxophonist Harold Land, trumpeters Jack Sheldon and Gerald Wilson, pianist Carl Perkins and drummer Frank Butler was issued in 2007 on a double CD...
all established harder-sounding bands in Los Angeles.
Reception
Tanner, Gerow, and Megill are largely dismissive of the term "West Coast jazz." As it often refers to Gerry MulliganGerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also...
and his associates in California, "west coast" merely becomes synonymous with "cool jazz," although Lester Young
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
, Claude Thornhill
Claude Thornhill
Claude Thornhill was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader...
, and Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
were based in New York. At the same time, many musicians associated with West Coast jazz "were much more involved in a hotter approach to jazz. Communication being what it is, it is hardly likely that any style of jazz was fostered exclusively in one area."
Some jazz critics, such as French critic Hugues Panassié
Hugues Panassié
Hugues Panassié was a French jazz critic and producer. His most famous works were Hot Jazz: The Guide to Swing Music and The Real Jazz, published in 1936 and 1942, respectively....
, looked down upon West Coast jazz because most of its musicians were white
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
. However, there were a sizable number of African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
musicians who played in the style, such as Curtis Counce, Chico Hamilton, Buddy Collette and Hampton Hawes
Hampton Hawes
Hampton Hawes was an American bebop and hard-bop jazz pianist, recognized as one of the finest and most influential of the 1950s.-Biography:...
.
See also
- List of cool jazz and West Coast jazz musicians
- Black Hawk (nightclub)Black Hawk (nightclub)The Black Hawk was a San Francisco nightclub which featured live jazz performances during its period of operation from 1949 to 1963. It was located on the corner of Turk Street and Hyde Street in San Francisco's Tenderloin District. Guido Caccienti owned the club along with Johnny and Helen...
- Chamber jazzChamber jazzChamber jazz is a genre of jazz based around small, acoustic-based ensembles where group interplay is important. It is influenced aesthetically by musical neoclassicism and is often influenced by classical forms of non-Western music. That stated in many cases the influence is traditional Celtic...
- The HaigThe Haig-History:Located across from the Ambassador Hotel, the club was originally a bungalow home, which was then converted by owner John Bennett into a club. In its time, Erroll Garner, Shorty Rogers, Red Norvo, Laurindo Almeida, and Bud Shank all played the club...
- Third StreamThird streamThird Stream is a term coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller, within a lecture at Brandeis University, to describe a musical genre which is a synthesis of classical music and jazz...
- West Coast Gypsy jazzWest Coast Gypsy jazzWest Coast Gypsy jazz is a sub-genre of Gypsy jazz. Specifically, it is music inspired by Django Reinhardt with the added influence of West Coast jazz, creating an American jazz hybrid.-External links:* * * * * * * *...
External links
- Pacific Jazz Records And The West Coast Sound at Tripod.comTripod.comTripod.com is a web hosting service owned by Lycos. Originally aiming its services to college students and young adults, it was one of several sites trying to build online communities during the dot-com bubble...
- Forever Cool: Cool and West Coast Jazz on the Internet at Live365Live365Live365 is an Internet radio network where members can create their own online radio station or listen to other Live365 broadcasters' online stations. As of October 2006, there were about 6,500 active stations, some of which play niche genres seldom heard on AM/FM radio...