CD Review: The Best Of Shelly Manne

The Best Of Shelly Manne offers an overview of Shelly Manne’s Contemporary label releases from 1953 to 1961. Manne has gotten the reputation as the quintessential West Coast cool jazz drummer and while there is some merit to this, he was quite comfortable playing many styles. He played drums on Frank Zappa’s Lumpy Gravy, my favorite Tom Waits album Small Change, numerous television and film soundtracks, and also recorded with Ornette Coleman and that’s just a few examples. A dreadful pun is coming, but if Shelly Manne could name his nightclub The Manne-hole, I can say that Shelly was indeed an every Manne.

Thirteen tracks are taken from eleven original releases and they provide a good sampling, for the casual fan, of Manne’s various stylistic takes with many different side players, the most notable perhaps being Andre Previn. Manne was an excellent band leader who always drove the beat with understated control. If you’re looking for outright drum pyrotechnics you’re in the wrong place.

“Flip”, named for Manne’s wife, begins the CD with a good intimate dose of the California cool style featuring Shorty Rogers on trumpet and Jimmy Giuffre on clarinet.
“Collard Greens And Black Eyed Peas” gives us a bass, drums, and piano trio and it smokes with a bluesy burn from Previn’s piano. The track has a film noirish feel giving evidence of Manne’s interest in soundtracks. Shelly Manne & His Men do a good reading of the Sonny Rollins written “Doxy”, but some things are better left to the originator.
“Checkmate” could have been used as a spy movie theme. Chuck Berghofer’s bass solo is a highlight, but I also completely dig Manne’s cymbal flourish at the start of the bass run. It’s like he’s saying get after it Chuck, it’s all yours. One of the hardest hitting tracks for drum enthusiasts is “Moose The Moocher” which swings with Manne belting the crescendos before melting back down into brush whispers. I expected full on Latin for “Mu-Cha-Cha” and I was surprised that it didn’t sound like something from a Cal Tjader session. It does boast a nice shifting tempo with more excellent stick work from Manne who gets an almost mechanical sound at one point. An unneeded version of “Peter Gunn” is included with Victor Feldman’s marimbas providing comic relief. “The Sound Affects Manne”, a drum and piano piece, is either artful or a gimmick, you decide. The highlight of this best of is “Poinciana” featuring noteworthy soloing throughout filled with memorable phrasing. Two of the players rise above the proceeding with Joe Gordon getting a Clifford Brown tone from his trumpet and Monty Budwig’s light fingered bass work holding steady over tempo changes galore.

Article Author: Wally Bangs

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