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This excellent 3-CD set collects two 10" albums by Shank and 4 12" albums co-led by Shank and Cooper, all for the Pacific Jazz/World Pacific labels between 1954-58. The West Coast cool school was at its height at this time, and both Bud Shank and Bob Cooper were in the thick of it. The first disc gets off to a rousing start with the marvelously swinging VALVE IN HEAD from 1954, with Bud playing fluid alto sax. He's joined by three valve trombone players (Bob Enevoldsen, Stu Williamson, and the ringer Maynard Ferguson) on this tune and for the first half of the disc, an interesting concept. The second half finds him with Coop at Cal Tech in 1959. Count Basie's THE KING gets a rousing airing, and there's a nicely done ballad medley.
Disc 2 contains the other 10-incher, this time with Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone with a small string section. Taken in its totality, it's the best album in the set. The highlight is Brookmeyer's own RUSTIC HOP, a great tune swung wonderfully. But all the tunes from this date, mostly standards, are great (OUT OF THIS WORLD is taken as a samba - very tasty), and the string section is truly a compliment to the proceedings, never obtrusive. The rest of Disc 2 has the 1958 BLOWIN' COUNTRY album on it (unfortunately also recently re-issued on a Pacific Jazz CD, which might be out of print now), and features Bud and Coop on various reeds, including flutes and oboe. The title track is an up-tempo swinger with both men on tenor and is the best from that album.
Disc 3 has miscellaneous sides completing the BLOWING COUNTRY date and also the album FLUTE 'N OBOE from 1956. Also done with a string section in attendance, I found this to be the least satisfying of the sessions. There seems a conscious effort to make this a chamber-jazz album, and except for a few items (TEQUILA TIME and the blues BLUES FOR DELILAH) there's a general lack of swing.
The set, for the most part, is quite excellent and collects some hard-to-find albums from the '50s. West Coast jazz could be cerebral and even icy, but in the right hands (and Bud Shank and Bob Cooper have the right hands) it could also swing like mad and be most welcoming. This Mosaic Select is definitely worth checking out."
Track Listings (17) - Disc #1