The Pacific Jazz Group EPK
Dred Scott, piano
Eric Crystal, tenor saxophone
John Wiitala, bass
Smith Dobson, drums
Recorded at Art Farm Studios, Sebastopol, CaliforniaProducer, Executive Producer - Denny Abrams
I spent many years living in the Bay Area. During that time, I developed a special affection for the music of the Pacific Jazz Label, an LA-based record company that started in 1952 and carried on through the 60's as World Pacific Records. West Coast jazz, people called it. And it was a thing. It was characterized often by the lack of a chordal instrument even though there were pianists and guitarists on the label, as well. The music itself was usually not difficult or intricate and the playing was more about sounding cool than blowing minds with awesome virtuosity. It was laid back and felt good. Some of the cats on the roster - Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Russ Freeman, Hampton Hawes, Bud Shank, Paul Desmond, Jim Hall, Chico Freeman, Jimmy Giuffre, Victor Feldman and Cal Tjader. The music reminds me of taking a drive down Highway 1 on a sunny day, of Golden Gate Park, of the beautiful redwoods of Muir Woods and Big Sur, of concerts by the sea on a Sunday afternoon. Even though the label was in LA, the music was the soundtrack for my time in Oakland and San Francisco.
The music on this album is a departure in that it is all cover songs - specifically cover songs from a specific moment in time. I’ve only done that once - Standards 2000 was all 60’s rock songs - and only one other time have I recorded any jazz covers - Time for the Hard Stuff has a song by Billy Strayhorn and one by Wayne Shorter. This album is more what ‘jazz musicians’ do - play songs that everybody knows or is at least in a familiar style. All of my albums (11 total) have been original music written by me or someone close to me except for ‘The Wizard’ on The Dred Scott Trio Live at Rockwood and Standards 2000 which was all 60's rock songs and I have recorded a Billy Strayhorn song and tunes by Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson. I wouldn’t call the songs on this new album ‘Standards’ but some are what we call ‘Jazz Standards’ - songs in the jazz canon that didn’t come from show tunes but were written by jazz musicians themselves.