Lighthouse All Stars - eight brothers

2002 CD release.

The 1992 Lighthouse All-Stars, a reunion group of 1950s Los Angeles veterans, consisted of flugelhornist Shorty Rogers, trumpeter Conte Candoli, altoist Bud Shank, tenor saxophonist Bob Cooper, Bill Perkins on baritone, tenor and soprano, pianist Pete Jolly, bassist Monty Budwig and drummer Larance Marable. Budwig passed away from cancer just a couple months after this recording, which may have been the last of his very productive career.

Although one thinks of the Lighthouse All-Stars as being a cool jazz group, the music on their Candid date -- eight then-new Rogers compositions and one apiece from Shank and Cooper along with a reworking of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" -- is actually more in the hard bop and even post-bop vein. The CD is billed as being co-led by Shorty Rogers and Bud Shank -- Rogers because of the writing and Shank since he had emerged into the band's most prominent soloist. All of the veteran musicians play up to par, and the results are quite enjoyable, even if none of the new songs became standards.

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