Bud Shank and the Mamas & Papas

I have been listening to a lot of Bud Shank lately and why not? Summer is approaching, the sun is shining and surely that's a perfect time to listen to the cool sounds of Bud Shank on flute, alto sax, or occassionally tenor or baritone sax. Over the course of his career he played with many of the greats, especially those other west coast fellows including Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Art Pepper and Shorty Rogers.


What I didn't know, was that he did a lot of studio work in California during the 1960s. The bombshell is that he played that great flute line in 'California Dreaming'. I haven`t heard that song in years but I can still hum that wonderful solo.


I won`t post that song here since you can track that one down on your own.

Instead how about we listen to What'll I Do a great track he recorded with Bob Cooper. I mean, how often are you likely to hear the oboe in jazz? They were an amazing team and I highly recommend trackong down some of their recordings. In fact, Mosaic Records (are you getting tired of my talking about them yet?) put out a set of their recordings which has recently made the transition to a cheaper iTunes edition (called The Capitol Vault Series) and my friends, this music would make a fine soundtrack to your summer.