Billboard : 05/05/1956
Score of 79

These sides were cut in January, just after Shank formed his quartet to bring into the Haig, the Wilshire Boulevard jazzery. On his own now, Shank seems to be completing the change in style apparent already in his recent album with Bill Perkins. He has a more open sound and a freer, more flexible approach on both alto and flute. As a result, his appeal is broadened. His cohorts are well rehearsed and in complete rapport with Shank’s ideas. They provide a near-hour of solid, happily swinging music in the best modern West Coast tradition.

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Army Times : 04/28/1956
Tom Scanlan

Bud Shank, one of the best of the modern alto men, is featured on a new record which should interest a fairly large number of jazz enthusiasts.

It is a quartet, the other gentlemen being pianist Claude Williamson, bassman Don Prell and drummer Chuck Flores.

On occasion, Shank can swing viciously, but things are pretty cool here, meaning light and polite.

Williamson plays the kind of mostly right hand piano style almost always heard these days, and Flores is an advocate of the tish-tish-boom style of drumming, also much in favor now. Prell is a good bassman.

I can’t get too excited over this kind of tame jazz, but some can.

Eight tunes are included, one of the best being Duke Ellington‘s Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me, which was called Concerto for Cootie back in my salad days, long before it was decided that this specialty number for trumpeter Cootie Williams could make it a pop number if it had a new title and words. Nature Boy, of all things, is here, too, as is Caricoa and something called Jubilation which sounds like How High the Moon to me.

The record is recommended for modern alto enthusiasts.

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Army Times
Tom Scanlan : 08/25/1956
A Chat with Bud Shank

If you are stationed in Europe, here’s some good news: The Bud Shank Quartet will be on tour in Europe for three months or more in the very near future.

Shank is unquestionably one of the best alto men in the business and he is also one of the foremost flute players in jazz. Others in the group are pianist Claude Williamson, bassman Don Prell and drummer Chuck Flores.

Bud was here in Washington recently and was anxiously looking forward to his first view of Europe. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for me,” he said.

Meeting Bud for the first time, I was impressed by his modesty, sincerity and liberal approach to jazz. Although closely associated with modern movements in jazz, Bud enjoys many different kinds of jazz. He likes Dixie, if it’s good; and he gets a real boot out of the swing-era inspired approach of men such as Barney Kessel or Harry Edison.

Like many other top reed men of today, he says his first influence was Lester Young. Others whose work have helped to form his approach to jazz include Lee Konitz, Charlie Parker and Art Pepper.

Does Bud think jazz has really changed much, as some critics and musicians maintain?

“People ask me that question a lot. But I don’t think jazz has changed too much. Ten, 20 or 30 years ago, it was basically the same thing. The approach has changed somewhat but it’s still the same music. It has to swing,” he told me.

To some, Bud is perhaps best known for his lively flute work but the man who is considered one of the leading jazz flute players (or flautists, if you will) is not entirely happy with his work on flute. The tone of the C-flute does not satisfy him entirely and he wants to experiment with the alto-flute, as Herbie Mann has done. He likes the fuller, warm sound of the alto flute.

He began studying flute about ten years ago, about the same time Bob Cooper began working with oboe. But he still feels most at home with alto. Although he is also a capable tenor man, Bud is not using the tenor with his present quartet. Same goes for the baritone.

Shank seems very happy with his present group. “We enjoy working together and want to stay together,” he says. “Flores is really going to be one of the great drummers. You know, he’s only 21. When he first joined us he had a tendency to play the way he did with a big band, but not any more.” (Flores first gained national attention as a big band drummer with Woody Herman.)

The other men in the group hardly need any introduction to those who follow jazz closely. Both rank with the best. (Incidentally, Claude Williamson has shaved off that mustache). And you should be hearing more and more about Dave Prell’s basswork.

Not too long ago, Bud went on tour to Australia with Frank Sinatra and was amazed at the tremendous interest in jazz in that country. He hopes that Europeans like jazz as much. According to Bud, jazz societies, jazz disc jockeys, and jazz enthusiasts are plentiful “down under.”

Records have meant a great deal to Bud, but he is not sure that the great quantity of jazz records being released today is a good thing. Some companies release everything they record, as long as there are some “names” on the date, he says.

“But you don’t always make good records just by getting some good musicians together. The men have to be accustomed to playing with one another and have to feel right,” is Bud’s point of view.

As a well-schooled, much in-demand musician, Shank has played on all kinds of record dates. One of his more recent was as sideman in the big band organized for the upcoming, widely-publicized Bing Crosby album on Verve (tentatively titled Bing Swings, I believe). They had about 13 hours of music to record according to Bud and 6 1/2 hours one day and 6 1/2 the next day. And that was it.

“Bing knew how he wanted to sing the tunes, and it came off fine right away.”

To point out how unusual this sort of thing is, Bud referred to making records with several girl singers. “Sometimes you will record for eight hours without getting a single track.”

Speaking of girl singers, Shank thinks the new album by June Christy, Misty Miss Christy, is real good, even better than her Something Cool LP.

Shank is from Dayton, Ohio, went to the University of North Carolina, and played with Charlie Barnet and Stan Kenton before gaining national recognition (winning jazz polls and such) for his work on records and in the top jazz clubs, notably the Lighthouse, on the West Coast. He is 30 years old but looks considerably younger. You’ll find his best recorded work on the Pacific Jazz label.

If you like good modern jazz and have an opportunity to catch the Bud Shank Quartet, I recommend you do so.

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Miami Herald
Fred Sherman : 05/27/1956

I suggest you listen to a new Pacific Jazz album called the Bud Shank Quartet featuring Claude Williamson. This is a real change of pace production.

Drummer Chuck Flores and bassist Don Prell do more than just spell out a lively rhythm backdrop for Shank’s free-swinging alto sax. They fatten the session with hefty performances.

The album kicks off with a misnomer, Bob Cooper‘s Bag of Blues. When you open the bag, you find it full of jazz smiles, nearly seven minutes of them. And before the smiles have time to fade, Shank has picked up his flute and drifted into a charming arrangement of Nature Boy. What ever happened to Eden Ahbez, the man in the sheet?

The most impressive bit on the record is something called Walkin’ by Richard Carpenter. Shank said they never figured an arrangement, “it just happened.”

This is an album up to the high standards of Pacific Jazz.

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Saturday Review
Whitney Balliett : 05/12/1956

Bud Shank is one of the few young alto saxophonists who has not chosen to glorify the works of Charlie Parker. He is, admittedly, a Young–Getz admirer, and as a result has a calm, mellifluous, sometimes rather unimaginative, style. Claude Williamson is a handsome, though rarely warming, Bud Powell follower, and the rhythm section is completed by Don Prell and Chuck Flores, who should do something about the muddy sound he gets on his instrument. Five standards and three originals.

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Virginian-Pilot
Robert C. Smith : 06/01/1956

In a stricter West Coast vein, the Bud Shank Quartet exhibits once again the altoist-leader’s fine swing and ideas. Claude Williamson mans the piano, Chuck Flores is on drums, and Don Prell on bass. Shank’s style still seems to be a gratifying amalgam of Art Pepper and Lee Konitz, the latter an East Coaster who established the pattern for much West Coast work. Bud picks up the flute, with which he is proficient, for two numbers, blows fine alto on Bag of Blues and really untracks on Walkin’. Williamson’s piano shows a good feeling.

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Down Beat : 06/27/1956
Jack Tracy : 3.5 stars

This is Shank‘s first recoded outing with the quartet he plans to take on the road soon (Claude Williamson, piano; Don Prell, bass; Chuck Flores, drums). Bud selected well. Williamson, already well-known through his Capitol sides, shows development at every hearing and is beginning to use his technique as an aid to expression rather than as a showpiece in itself.

Prell is a sturdy timekeeper with rapid fingers and the laudable ability to keep out of the way while giving aid. Flores, Woody Herman‘s former drummer, is a good man to have around – able, flexible, precise – though I am rather certain he and I would disagree to some extent as to the function of a drummer in a small group. I prefer to feel a steady pulse, rather than have it overemphasized by rolls, bombs, and cymbal crashes.

Shank’s continued expansion and control are gratifying, as is evidenced on Walkin’, a most satisfying stroll. He concentrates almost entirely on alto, although Nature Boy and Nocturne highlight his flute. Heaven is Bud at his usual high-level on ballads. One more topflight recording job from Dick Bock.

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Liner Notes by Pat Henry

Bud Shank
Bud Shank is a musician with a distinctive and readily recognizable way with his horn. He not only stays within the range of his horn but seems to find it easy to execute his ideas with alto, baritone or flute. You’ll hear mostly alto saxophone and some C flute during the playing of this album.

The newly formed Bud Shank quartet was working at the Haig on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles at the time it recorded the eight selections in this album. It was a double session and all of the tunes were completed during the time allowed.

I recoded a telephone conversation with the men who appear on this recorded and extracted a few questions and answers for this text.

Bud Shank was born in Dayton, Ohio, 29 years ago. Educated in the East he came West to receive the first recognition with the Charlie Barnet band. Following a year with Barnet he joined the Kenton band to play the lead book from the chair next to Art Pepper‘s. The two and one-half years Bud worked with Kenton corresponded roughly with Pepper’s period of widespread acclaim and Bud was greatly influenced by Pepper’s style and sound. When Pepper left the Los Angeles jazz scene the so called “West Coast Jazz School of Music” was in the process of forming around the men from the Kenton, Herman and Barnet bands, for the most part. With Pepper out of town and the increasing interest in Bud’s playing he became the heir apparent.

Bud set about to satisfy those who expected a logical extension of the Pepper sound while, at the same time, building his confidence, technique and individual sound. The change in Bud’s playing began as he worked with many different men from various parts of the country during his stay at the Lighthouse. His recent album with Bill Perkins gave many people a recorded example of the turning point in Bud’s thinking. This album gives jazz lovers a preview of things to be expected of Bud Shank in years to come.

Q: I think I hear a different sound and approach? What’s the reason?
A: I think it’s getting out on my own. It’s all mental. I’m playing more now the way I’ve always wanted to play.
Q: Do you believe you’re thinking along the Perk and Zoot line, maybe?
A: Oh, yeah. I don’t have other things influencing me and I feel freer than I have ever felt. I play more the way I want without pressures from anyone.
Q: Meaning guys in the business or record people?
A: Guys I’m working with and also on record dates and things like that.
Q: Who picked the tunes for the date?
A: I did.
Q: Who did the arrangements?
A: Coop did his two tunes and Claude did Do Nothin’ ‘Til You Hear From Me, Carioca and Nocturne, which he wrote. I did Nature Boy. Walkin’ just happened.
Q: Who do you dig playing alto?
A: That’s hard to say – everybody. Lee and Art and well, Bird, naturally.
Q: Who would you say influenced you most when you were beginning to play?
A: Prez.

The last answer probably tells us more than might be obvious at first glance. You’ll hear, perhaps, a little more of the currently fashionable tenor saxophone attack in Bud’s music now.

Claude Williamson
I have known Claude Williamson since his army days. Claude is 29 and was born in Brattleboro, Vermont. He worked with the Barnet band before his army service, recording with Barnet an excellent Manny Albam score titled Claude Reigns. He has recorded a surprising amount of music with a great many groups. Since his return from the army Claude has worked extensively in the studios, at concerts and the Lighthouse.

Probably every young pianist in the 1940s felt the influence of Bud Powell. Claude felt it and profited by it. It now appears that the increased demands made of modern pianists today will broaden their thinking even as Claude’s scope has expanded during the past years.

Claude now uses his great facility within a looser, more flexible framework, not so shackled with the preconceived musical notions of the past decade.

Q: I think I hear a lot more of your left hand now. What do you feel?
A: Since I left the Lighthouse I’m beginning to really find myself – more with this group. I’ve been trying to keep my left hand busier.
Q: How do you like the instrumentation?
A: I like very much working with the quartet.
Q: Which of the tunes from the date do you like?
A: I like Do Nothin’ and Walkin’
Q: Bag of Blues has an unusual sound. What is it?
A: It’s not really a blues tune. It’s a 32 bar tune. It’s in D flat and the thing that makes it sound different is that the progressions are quite unorthodox. Very unusual progression in the first eight and the bridge, too.
Q: Are you planning on going out on the road now?
A: Yes, I’m going out with Bud when he goes.

Claude’s talent and serious approach to music guarantee us many exciting years of hearing and enjoying the ever evolving Williamson style.

Chuck Flores
I met Chuck Flores just a few days after he joined the Woody Herman band at the age of 19. Chuck had studied with Shelly Manne for about a year before taking to the road. During the year he studied with Shelly he worked with several groups in Los Angeles and his home city of Orange, a Los Angeles suburb. When Ike Carpenter‘s band worked during this period Chuck worked with it.

In replacing Joe McDonald with Woody Herman, Chuck climbed into what might be considered the hottest drumming chair in the nation. Few things bring out the authoritative positions of musicians and critics as rapidly as questions regarding the proper selection of a drummer for one of Herman’s bands. Everyone seems to have the right man for the job. Woody Herman chose teenager Chuck Flores as the man for the important opening. Chuck probably has more drive and endurance, for his size, than any drummer since Dave Tough. He proved himself so capable that he remained with Herman throughout the band’s second Capitol recording contract. Chuck worked with the big band and the octet in Las Vegas. He has recoded with Dick Collins, Nat Pierce, Claude Williamson’s trio and Cy Touff‘s octet and quintet.

From the Herdsmen he received his nickname, “Wetback,” and much of the experience and musical philosophy you will hear demonstrated during the playing of this album.

Q: How do you like the way you sound on the record?
A: Well, you know you hardly ever make an album where you are completely pleased. Some of those things we played back sounded good. Don’t know how I’ll dig them later.
Q: Do you like the small group as compared to the big band?
A: Oh! Yeah. It’s really a ball.
Q: You studied with Shelly for a while, would you consider him the major influence in your playing?
A: No. I think Art Blakey and Tiny Kahn and Max, of course.

Chuck Flores, at 21, is one of the bright young men in music. His work with men of long experience has taught him things few musicians his age have an opportunity to learn.

It may be safely said that you will hear much more form Chuck Flores in the 1950s.

Don Prell
I have just met Don Prell, a 26 year old Los Angeles born bassist. You may be hearing him for the first time during the playing of the numbers in this album. Don has had considerable classical training and experience. He worked two seasons with the Utah Symphony before reverting to jazz playing exclusively. The exacting demands of classical work, in some phases of playing, show through in Don’s jazz work. For example, you will find Don’s intonation excellent, and he does not over-use the lower register of his instrument as a few of the lesser schooled bassists have been accused of doing.

Q: Do you believe that you benefited from your symphony work?
A: Oh, yes. It was a wonderful experience.
Q: Do you like symphony work or do you prefer the freedom of jazz?
A: I like to play jazz.
Q: Who are the men you like to hear on your instrument.
A: Percy Heath, Pettiford and Red Mitchell.
Q: Who would you say influenced you most in your playing?
A: Oh, I don’t know – Pettiford, I guess.
Q: How much do you like the album?
A: Very much.
Q: What sort of bass do you use?
A: I don’t know. I paid $15 for it and it was in pieces when I bought it. I put it back together, you know.
Q: $15? Did you use it in the symphony?
A: Sure.

There couldn’t have been a funnier note on which to conclude the telephone conversations.

I leave the music to speak for itself as I have tried to allow the musicians to speak for themselves. They seem to be a happy group of players and timekeepers. I hope you enjoy the record.