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In his Jazz Profiles blog, Steve Cerra posts a piece about Bud Shank (1926-2009) that is packed with remembrances of the saxophonist and flutist, interviews, photographs and music clips that recall the career of an amazingly productive, versatile and expressive musician. Steve’s introduction summons his own youthful impression of Shank:
To the older guys that I hung out with, Bud Shank was the epitome of West Coast “Cool.†He was a tall, broad shouldered, good looking guy with a brush cut, who drove a sport car and who always seemed to have a good-looking babe on his arm. And, he also played the heck out of the alto saxophone.
Bud, however, was not just another pretty-face or wastrel artist-type. Rather, he was the living embodiment of the motto of my tax and financial advisor: “Work hard, put some of your earnings away and remember that it’s not all yours.â€
In addition to his recollections of Shank, Steve includes a substantial portion of the notes I
wrote for Mosaic’s 1998 Bud Shank box set, now long out of print. He reprints the Shank chapter of Gordon Jack’s book of interviews with jazz musicians and closes with three tracks by the superb Shank quintet that had Carmel Jones, Gary Peacock, Mel Lewis and Dennis Budimir. For a welcome Bud Shank refresher course, visit Professor Cerra’s seminar. Click here and scroll up.