Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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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; then Stan Kenton, Woody Herman '46-52, toured with JATP, settled on the West Coast and became the most in-demand drummer in movies and TV in the '50s, as well as appearing on about half the jazz records made on the West Coast. He appeared in the film Man With The Golden Arm '56 and played in hit Henry Mancini score for TV's Peter Gunn '59; he operated a club, Shelly's Manne Hole, '60-74 in Los Angeles.

His first date as a leader was on Dizzy Gillespie's Dee Gee label '51, tracks later on Savoy; his long association with the Contemporary label '53-62 (as well as countless albums as sideman) began with the appropriately titled West Coast Sound (two volumes on 10-inch LPs) with Art Pepper, Bob Cooper, Jimmy Giuffre, Bud Shank, Curtis Counce, Shorty Rogers and others, arrangements by Giuffre, Bill Russo and Marty Paich. Manne encouraged successfully adventurous composing such as Rogers's 'Shapes, Motions, Colors', Giuffre's 'Alternation' and Jack Montrose's 'Etude de Concert' by Jack Montrose (tenor saxist d 7 February 2006 in Las Vegas aged 77) which was West Coast jazz at its best; these tunes were on Vol. 2 which had not been reissued in any format over 40 years later. The Three And The Two on Fantasy OJC combines two 10-inch LPs: a trio of Manne, Rogers and Giuffre with a duo of Manne and pianist Russ Freeman (b 28 May 1926, Chicago).

Commercial success took over with the trio Shelly Manne And His Friends '56 with André Previn and Leroy Vinnegar; that year they made My Fair Lady, a hit LP that started the vogue for jazz treatments of Broadway scores, including L'il Abner and Pal Joey '57, Gigi and The Bells Are Ringing '58, West Side Story '59, some with Previn as nominal leader, some with Red Mitchell on bass instead of Vinnegar. Manne often worked with Victor Feldman, Freeman on piano and Monte Budwig on bass (b 26 December 1929, Pender NE), including Shelly Manne And His Men Play Peter Gunn and Son Of Gunn '59, The Proper Time '60; with Feldman in four volumes of At The Black Hawk '59, with Freeman, Conte Candoli and Richie Kamuca At The Manne Hole and Checkmate '61, etc. Sounds Unheard Of '62 was a duet with guitarist Jack Marshall.
   
Other albums: Two, Three, Four '62 on Impulse with Coleman Hawkins and Hank Jones; with Bill Evans and Budwig on Verve '62; big band Manne - That's Gershwin! '65 on Capitol; quintet Perk Up '67 on Concord Jazz; quintet Outside '69 and sextet Alive In London '70 from Ronnie Scott's club, both on Contemporary; Mannekind '72 on Mainstream; Rex '76 on Discovery (songs by Richard Rodgers), Essence and French Concert '77 on Galaxy; Jazz Crystallizations '78 on Pausa, The Manne We Love '78 on East Wind; Interpretations (of Bach and Mozart) and Double Piano Jazz Quartet Live At Carmello's (two volumes) '80 on Trend; Hollywood Jam (sextet with Budwig, Cooper, Pepper) and Fingering (trio with Monty Alexander, Ray Brown) '81 on Atlas; Remember '84 on Jazzizz (trio with Budwig and pianist Frank Collett). Manne was also a founder member of L.A. Four, with Brown, Shank and Laurindo Almeida (eight LPs on Concord Jazz c.1967-82).