Man, That's Manne: Shelly Manne tonight on JFBL

[Lazaro Vega]

Because he was lumped in with West Coast cool school, drummer Shelly Manne was one of those great musicians who may have been taken for granted by too many jazz fans. His diversity, taste, swingmanship and engaging life story will be featured during this evening's Jazz Retrospective over Blue Lake Public Radio from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Hope you can join us after the Tierney Sutton Band concert at St. Cecilia Music Society tonight.

http://tinyurl.com/y8t6mup

Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music - MANNE, Shelly

(b Sheldon Manne, 11 June 1920, NYC; d 26 September 1984, Los Angeles CA) Drummer. His father and two uncles were also drummers. He worked on transatlantic liners; for bandleaders Raymond Scott, Les Brown; ...

[ghost of miles]

Because he was lumped in with West Coast cool school, drummer Shelly Manne was one of those great musicians who may have been taken for granted by too many jazz fans. His diversity, taste, swingmanship and engaging life story will be featured during this evening's Jazz Retrospective over Blue Lake Public Radio from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Hope you can join us after the Tierney Sutton Band concert at St. Cecilia Music Society tonight.

http://tinyurl.com/y8t6mup

Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music - MANNE, Shelly

(b Sheldon Manne, 11 June 1920, NYC; d 26 September 1984, Los Angeles CA) Drummer. His father and two uncles were also drummers. He worked on transatlantic liners; for bandleaders Raymond Scott, Les Brown; ...

This sounds fantastic, Lazaro. I'm going to be working on a program tonight but will try to tune in from time to time. Been thinking about doing a Night Lights related to Shelly, given that the 90th anniversary of his birth is coming up in June.

[Chuck Nessa]

So, this is the drummer.

[Lazaro Vega]

Drummer, bandleader, night club owner, horse breeder....

[Lazaro Vega]

Oh frownie!

"may have been." There are musicians from many stylistic approaches who appreciate Shelly Manne on a deep and abiding level, and he wouldn't have kept a club running for 14 years if he didn't have a public to love him, yet these days how often are we hearing from the fans about Shelly Manne? One of the most creative drummers ever, yet how often is he spoken about in the grand lineage of musicians on his instrument? That was the thinking, any who....

[ghost of miles]

Doing some preparatory work for a June Night Lights show about Manne’s 1950s recordings and wanted to recommend the chapters about him in both Ted Gioia’s West Coast Jazz and Burt Korall’s Drummin’ Men: The Bebop Years. A really remarkable artist who, as Lazaro notes above, doesn’t get as much attention today, historically speaking, as he should. Next month marks his centenary, so hopefully he’ll merit some writeups in the online jazz media. (Print is on pause right now, at least in the case of JazzTimes; not sure about DownBeat.)

[BillF]

11 minutes ago, ghost of miles said:

Doing some preparatory work for a June Night Lights show about Manne’s 1950s recordings and wanted to recommend the chapters about him in both Ted Gioia’s West Coast Jazz and Burt Korall’s Drummin’ Men: The Bebop Years. A really remarkable artist who, as Lazaro notes above, doesn’t get as much attention today, historically speaking, as he should. Next month marks his centenary, so hopefully he’ll merit some writeups in the online jazz media. (Print is on pause right now, at least in the case of JazzTimes; not sure about DownBeat.)

"Doesn't get as much attention today". Too true! I was astounded when a friend who regularly goes to jazz gigs and buys lots of albums said he'd never heard of Shelly Manne when I mentioned him.

Edited May 15, 2020 by BillF

[ghost of miles]

1 minute ago, BillF said:

"Doesn't get as much attention today". Too true! I was astounded when a friend who regularly goes to jazz gigs and buys lots of albums said he'd never heard of Shelly Manne when I mentioned him.

It’s fascinating to me to trace his evolution, playing with a number of big bands in the 1940s (including a notable stretch with Kenton) while also being a part of the mid-40s 52nd St bebop scene, then settling in Los Angeles in 1951 going on to do all the “Shelly Manne and His Men” West Coast recordings, not to mention the My Fair Lady trio album, and of course the Blackhawk quintet outings. Good Lord! And Larry Kart has made a strong case on this board for some of his later 1960s albums. I thought about trying to do a career-spanning show, but the 1950s alone give me plenty to chew on. 

[Larry Kart]

One of those bittersweet things. Don't think I'd ever heard Shelly in person until he came to the Jazz Showcase in the '80s with a trio (Frank Collett and Monty Budwig). I was virtually hypnotized by the degree of interaction that Shelly had with Collett and Budwig (you could see this as well as hear it), and I wrote about that accordingly. A short while later a postcard arrived from Shelly in California, thanking me for what I wrote and saying that we should get together the next time he was in town. A short while after that he was gone.

[Dave James]

Nothing fancy was his calling card...just solid in the pocket playing.  Go back to the Blackhawk recordings and listen to how he pushes the band.  There's a reason Manne was always surrounded by first class players.  He made everyone just a little bit better.

[Larry Kart]

Another thing about Shelly, so I've been told -- without being at all stiff, he never rushed and he never dragged. The tempo always was right there.

[medjuck]

I love that he played Dave Tough in The Five Pennies. 

[Lazaro Vega]

Solid.