West Coast All Stars

It won't change your life, but West Coast All Stars is an engaging and entertaining mainstream jazz concert performed by a sextet of veteran musicians. Coming to prominence in the mid-20th century, the West Coast style was less intense and adventurous, more laidback, and a lot more white than its East Coast counterpart (tenor saxophonist Teddy Edwards is the only African American here). Nothing wrong with that: “less intense” usually also means “more accessible,” and that would certainly be an apt description of this 2001 performance recorded in a Stuttgart, Germany concert hall. This lineup, which includes septuagenarians Conte Candoli (trumpet), Carl Fontana (trombone), and Edwards, along with two others (bassist Chuck Berghofer and pianist Pete Jolly) who were in their 60s at the time, and relative youngster Joe LaBarbera on drums, can still swing like mad, and it's a tribute to their experience and compatibility that they played this gig without charts, arrangements, or so much as a single rehearsal. But that also means their approach to the material (play the lead, everyone solos, then back and out) is predictable, as is much of the material itself (“Four,” “Walkin',” “Lover Man,” “Oleo”). Most of this repertoire was recorded half a century ago by these same musicians, and played countless times since (this show was more or less a 50th anniversary tribute to the founding of the Lighthouse All Stars--the Lighthouse was for years one of Southern California's premier jazz clubs). So while there's no new ground being broken here, the DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1, and PCM stereo sound are superb, and the direction and camerawork are excellent, making this a strong optional purchase, overall. Aud: P. (S. Graham)