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From 1960 to 1972 in Hollywood, drummer Shelly Manne operated Shelly’s Manne Hole, one of the great jazz clubs in the world. It was headquarters for his quintet known as Shelly 
Manne And His Men, which over the years included many of the era’s premier players, among them Charlie Mariano, Bill Holman, Richie Kamuca, Conte Candoli, Joe Gordon, Stu Williamson, Leroy Vinnegar, Russ Freeman, Victor Feldman and Monty Budwig.
Now and then, though, Manne brought in a few friends for short-term appearances at the club. One night in 1970, his all-star quartet du jour consisted of Manne, tenor saxophonist Bob Cooper, pianist Hampton Hawes and bassist Ray Brown. They played a blues in what seems to be A-flat (although I’m not sure I trust the pitch of the film sound track), and followed with “Stella By Starlight.” Then came ”Milestones,” which Manne kicked off at a tempo about as fast as it’s possible for musicians to play coherently. Brown gives Manne a grin that seems to say, “You devil,” but the four manage without difficulty.
Shelly was forced to close the Manne Hole because the music was causing problems for Wally Heider’s recording studio next door. He reopened for a time in L.A.’s Wilshire section, but the club lasted less than a year at the new location. Manne thrived until shortly before his death in 1984, always in demand, one of the most admired drummers and bandleaders in the history of the music.
Have a good weekend.
I remember playing at the Manne Hole with the Mulligan quartet. It was so smoky that I went outside on the break for a breath of fresh air. The smog was so bad that night that the air was better back in the Manne Hole.
I first heard Shelly when he was with Kenton… they passed through Seattle doing one-nighters. I was very impressed with his playing, and admired the way his sizzle cymbal pulled the saxophone section together. He was also very funny, doing shtick at the drums between tunes. A wonderful guy, and great musician. I think he was a strong influence on Mel Lewis.
Where would you find anything better than that????
I really enjoyed that. I love Ray Brown. I never made it to the Manne Hole so it was fun to see the inside during a set.
What a great group! Just humbling to watch those guys play. Thanks!
Wow, talk about all-stars. This group is the personification of that term. I’ve been lucky enough to have caught all these greats in person, but never together. Bob Cooper continued to get better thru the years; his Cohnish sound never failed to impress. Nice to see Bill Crow’s comment above. I remember first catching him at the Half Note circa 59-60 along with Al, Zoot, Gus Johnson and Mose Allison.
The Efor Films dvd that I have seems to be at the correct pitch, assuming that Ray’s low string is tuned to the standard E. Ray plays the opening two choruses of the blues in E and they immediately go into G when Bob enters.
Yeah, the entire vid seems to be sounding up a half-step from the actual key. So great to see this performance!
During 1978 I first got to know of SM’s nightclub via a delightful ’60s piano trio LP (Bill Evans Live @ SMH — w/ Chuck Israels & Larry Bunker) then soon went hunting in record stores for all I could find featuring Mr Manne’s drumming. For somebody age 18 in rural NW England at that time, it wasn’t easy, but well worth the effort. From SM, I discovered much work by all of the musicians mentioned above and deem myself a very lucky listener indeed. Cheers to Rifftides & DR for this art-tickle.
Dale,
Shelly Manne’s two albums with Bill Evans (EMPATHY and A SIMPLE MATTER OF CONVICTION, 1962 and 1966, respectively) are two of the best examples of the incredible subtlety and responsiveness of Manne’s drumming, equal to that in the video above with Brown, Hawes, and Cooper. More material from the fabulous BILL EVANS TRIO AT SHELLY’S MANNE HOLE May, 1963 sessions is available on a CD called TIME REMEMBERED—not to be missed!
Also, I sure enjoyed comparing Hampton Hawes’ second look at “Stella By Starlight” to the version on Hawes’ THE TRIO album with Red Mitchell and Chuck Thompson. It became one of Hawes’ signature tunes when he emerged to a broader audience in the mid-Fifties. The Hawes blues bag seems bottomless, and universally applicable!
TS – many thanks for having taken the time to recommend such an array of gems, most of which I have already; at age 54 now, my collection has expanded so much over some forty years! I began buying jazz records at 14, funded mostly by delivering newspapers after school and hiring myself out as a pianist on weekends. HH is definitely one of my favourite artists. Cheers, TS. And happy hols to Rifftides staff — switch off, chill out, sky-gaze.