Product description This film fills in the blanks that the Ken Burns' documentary left out. Paul Pierce, Bass World The Lighthouse was the premiere jazz club in the Los Angeles area during the 1950s and 1960s. Through numerous interviews, archival photos, music and video clips, the film tells the story of the Lighthouse and two men of very different backgrounds and personalities who brought the club and their band called 'The Lighthouse All-Stars' to the point of gaining world-wide fame. Along the way, many obstacles were overcome in order to create the club's success. In interviews, original musicians including Bud Shank, Stan Levey, and Howard Rumsey provide a vivid account of the era. They are joined by jazz fans, jazz critics and a bartender and waitress from the original Lighthouse who bring this intriguing story to life. Review After 30 years, West Coast jazz still has a tenacious group of followers. Many of them congregate each year at festivals celebrating the music in its birthplace, Los Angeles. A remarkable new DVD has recently appeared. It centers on Howard Rumsey, the bass player who, in 1949, began organizing Sunday afternoon jam sessions at The Lighthouse, a seaside bar at Hermosa Beach. Working with a core of the best musicians in the city, Rumsey put on his sessions each week until 1971, given impetus by the man who owned the bar, John Levine. People wandered in off the beach to complement the loyal jazz audience. The music and the bar prospered. Rumsey had been a member of one of the early Kenton bands. His first jam session groups took advantage of later Kenton men who had tired of life on the road. The core of his regulars, soon to be known across the world as The Lighthouse All Stars, was Shorty Rogers, Jimmy Giuffre, Milt Bernhart and Shelly Manne. As the police clamped down on the activities on Central Avenue, black musicians like Teddy Edwards, Sonny Criss and Hampton Hawes found a new platform at The Lighthouse. After many ups and downs Max Roach was resident for about six months and during this period Miles Davis and other luminaries played at the bar. During the 60s Rumsey found it difficult to keep the band going and began booking touring bands. Levine died in 1971, and Rumsey moved his activities to Concerts By The Sea. But that’s another story. The DVD, Jazz On The West Coast: The Lighthouse, has been brilliantly put together by Ken Koenig, who also wrote the absorbing script. The results are both dazzling and professional. Amongst those interviewed on screen are Stan Levey, Milt Bernhart, Bud Shank, Bill Holman and Max Bennett. There are video clips and an incredible number of period photographs, with a separate one hour interview with Rumsey as a bonus. - Steve Voce, --Jazz Journal International, Dec. 2006Much anticipated since it was learned that filmmaker, IAJRC member and West Coast Jazz aficionado Ken Koenig was preparing a film about the legendary Lighthouse, it is now available for you to view as a DVD in your home. This is something that was worth waiting for. The bass player Howard Rumsey was looking for a place that would allow jam sessions and found a willing bar owner in John Levine whose establishment wasn t doing much business in the late forties. The place, named The Lighthouse, was in the small community of Hermosa Beach, California, not far from Los Angeles, and so it came to pass that these two persons were made for each other and, ultimately, for many jazz fans, to the benefit of all. Different from any other jazz club in the music s history, The Lighthouse was conveniently located for the beaching crowd. To refresh oneself from too many rays, it was as easy to head for the cool sounds of jazz at The Lighthouse, as it was the ocean. Business at the bar improved markedly and John Levine, who was a gambler before he met Howard, made a winning move in allowing the jam sessions. It was a two-way street; as the musicians also gained from the establishment of a jazz center so close to their homes, the movie studios, where most were also employed, and the recording studios. A house band soon came into being usually consisting of, among others, to be sure, Bob Cooper, Bud Shank, Frank Rosolino, Claude Williamson, Stan Levey, and, of course, the leader, Howard Rumsey. The regulars changed, naturally, from time to time, and many guest musicians were invited to play, especially out-of-towners from other coasts. And then, there were the recordings and the popular (and descriptive) term West Coast Jazz that came out of such a modest beginning. Worldwide stuff, it was, and it lasted for several years. The music lives on, of course, via the many recordings. All was not as easy as you may think, however. Hermosa Beach was a small town, but subject to some big city ills nonetheless. Racial and religious prejudice, for instance, seeped out of LA and infested the beach. Rumsey and Levine worked hard together, dealt with it, and eventually were rid of it. Ken Koenig has most successfully documented The Lighthouse story by using fascinating photographs, video clips and numerous interviews of many who were there on both sides of the bar. While many of those intimately involved, including musicians and John Levine, have passed on, fortunately Howard Rumsey was able to participate in the film s making. There is, in addition to the film, a very interesting one-hour interview with Howard regarding the recording sessions and more. This DVD is a must. - Russ Chase, --International Association of Jazz Record CollectorsJazz on the West Coast: The Lighthouse is a time capsule/oral history of the legendary Southern California venue active throughout the 50s. A collaboration between impresario John Levine and bassist/musical director Howard Rumsey, the Hermosa Beach club became the hotspot of the cool school, regularly featuring such artists as Hampton Hawes, Teddy Edwards, Shelly Manne, Shorty Rogers, Buddy Collette, Jimmy Giuffre, Gerry Mulligan, Bill Holman, Chet Baker, Elmo Hope, Benny Carter, Joe Gordon, Harold Land, Stan Levey, Frank Rosolino, Bud Shank, Conte Candoli, Bob Bryant, Doug Sides, Bob Cooper, Art Pepper and Max Roach (and many others). The DVD release provides perspective on the Lighthouse scene through photos, choice cuts on the virtually continuous soundtrack and interviews with a variety of active participants: photographer William Claxton (responsible for many of the iconic images gracing Pacific Jazz album covers); a former bartender; Ross Levine (John s son); jazz historians and journalists; and key players such as Shank and Rumsey. Also included are video clips of Shorty Rogers burning down the changes to Viva Zapata and a 1962 television spot featuring Rumsey and the boys at full swing. One of the most fascinating bits (included as an extra feature) is an hour-long interview with Rumsey. Presented with a stack of Lighthouse All-Stars recordings, the aging bassist often takes a minute or two to collect his recollections of the people and particulars involved in each session, yet invariably retrieves an anecdote as informative as it is entertaining. Once the musical lynchpin of all-things-Lighthouse, Rumsey, who turns 80 this month, is a living history of jams-gone-by: a witness to those players, patrons, producers and fans who walked into the beautiful jazz world. The Lighthouse illuminates the story of two men who, on the basis of a handshake, set the stage for twenty-two years of good music and times. For those of us who weren t there, the video provides a taste of the flavors we missed. - Tom Greenland, --All About Jazz, Nov. 11, 2006 P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); About the Director Kenneth Koenig, M.D. is a retired psychiatrist/psychoanalyst in practice for over 30 years. He has recently completed the 78 minute documentary film: Jazz On The West Coast: The Lighthouse. It was an official selection of the 2005 Newport Beach Film Festival where it premiered in April, 2005 and was the featured film at the 2006 Monterey Jazz Festival and the 2007 Copenhagen Jazz Festival. Ken has been a lifelong jazz fan, particularly jazz on the west coast in the 1950s, a jazz recording collector, amateur musician, photographer, amateur filmmaker, computer buff and film buff. Growing up during the 1950s in Tucson, Arizona Ken was able to hear the Lighthouse All Stars and other jazz groups on the west coast on late night radio broadcasts. He soon became a fan and drove to California and to the Lighthouse Café jazz club in Hermosa Beach, CA at the age of 17 when he got his first car. In preparation for retirement from private practice, Ken decided to begin using his interviewing skills to make documentary films. He took a class in Digital Media Production at a local community college. He decided for his first project to make a film about something he knew and loved. His acquaintance with the musicians who started the Lighthouse and the Lighthouse All-Stars at various music festivals led him to want to tell the fascinating behind-the-scenes story of this world renowned jazz club. Ken Burns s recent documentary on Jazz left out much of the significant history of jazz on the west coast including any information about the Lighthouse, the center of this west coast jazz movement. He hopes his film will stimulate younger jazz fans to become more aware and interested in this era of jazz history. See more
S**L
Strictly for the memories (and insomniacs)
I'd heard about Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse but, as a non-Californian, had no first-hand experience in the club or, for that matter, L.A. We learn that the club's owner was a man named John Levine (whose biography receives more attention than the musicians') and that it was Rumsey who approached Levine about using the club as a mecca for jazz musicians in the 1950s, when Stan Kenton's musicians were off the road to stay and over-zealous police were closing down the clubs on Central Ave., where black musicians had played in the '40s (we're told that some found their way to the Lighthouse but soon felt unwelcome and left. So where did they go?)This film repeated much of what I already knew, some of what I didn't know, and a lot about what I didn't need to know. The film seems to be on drugs--"downers" like heroin (definitely not cocaine). There's a kind of "audio patina" over the microphone that not only covers up and distances us from the film's talking heads but homogenizes them, making each blend together in an indistinct, bland and unseasoned chorus of droning voices (same deliberative monotone, same vocabulary, same delivery). A few speakers suddenly chuckle over their own recollections but just as suddenly catch themselves in time to return us to the film's insistent sobriety.Anything resembling "excitement" is purely accidental. A newcomer might wonder--if the film's speakers are a reflection of the music, who cares? Anything resembling real jazz--West Coast or East Coast--is reduced to anonymous background music playing non-stop behind the film's chosen group of talking heads, practically each of whom wears out his welcome after the first 2 or 3 interview clips. Levine was the owner and business mind, and Rumsey was the music scheduler and bass player who lent his name to the collections of all-star musicians--including seminal, true giants like Maynard Ferguson, Shorty Rogers, Max Roach and even Charlie Parker (the latter two obviously away from their usual Coast). In exchange for his work on the entertainment, Rumsey tells us that Levine fathered him into the ways of business, even getting him to join the Chamber of Commerce (which paid off later in a Lighthouse-sponsored beauty contest with Stan Kenton as one of the judges).Apart from locals who remember club sessions and who recognize the photographs of jazz greats (Maynard Ferguson, Chet Baker, Wardell Grey), the film would seem to serve little purpose--other than as a certain cure for insomnia. I don't mean to be overly harsh on a project that may have required considerable effort and time to assemble. But in these latter days of jazz, a film like this would be a total disaster if shown to students in an introductory class to the music. The best scene by far is that of a filmed sequence of a live session (the tune, as I recall, is "All the Things You Are," though the soundtrack makes it difficult to distinguish this music from the limpid background jazz that's been running throughout the film). At the very least, the sequence proves that Howard Rumsey could and did actually play bass with the all-stars (I was even able to discern distinct and correct pitches from his instrument).On the whole, the film left me feeling sad about the scandalously poor documentation of America's most important (arguably, only) indigenous musical art. True, there are more noteworthy jazz albums than any one listener has time in a single lifetime to listen to. But when it comes to filming a music of such drama, color, and "high energy" appeal, the music and the American public have both been let down. (My dream has long been to locate a single visual clip of tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, at one time pronounced by Down Beat Magazine the "most recorded saxophonist in jazz." I'm afraid that it's a dream forever deferred.)P.S. It's probably a good thing that legendary clubs like Birdland (the original), the Vanguard, and the Lighthouse along with the owners and sponsors who braved this unprofitable music, receive recognition--even in films that are way behind the curve in production values. But as a Midwesterner it galls me that one of the most tireless, passionate, and persistent champions of this African-American musical art form is rarely acknowledged for his enormous contributions and sacrifices on behalf of the music. Since 1946 Joe Segal has made it his life's mission to bring the best jazz in the world to Chicago's Jazz Showcase, and he can still be found at the door, dispensing tickets, weighing the night's admission fees against his costs, and somehow making it work. In the '70s Segal lined up the best jazz heard anywhere--programs with 4 tenor giants from both coasts on the bandstand. And when they all seemed to be dying of lung cancer, Segal stunned us all around 1990 by being one of the first to enforce a "no-smoking" policy. That's the movie that should have been in the making, especially when, in a jazz-hostile climate, Segal refused to abandon his post as captain of the ship on the mainstream of modern jazz.
J**S
Great Days at The Lighthouse
What also needs to be emphasized is the role the Lighthouse played in bringing some of the best jazz musicians into Los Angeles. During its heyday, there were many other jazz clubs here (regardless what "West Coast Jazz" author says about "dearth" of good jazz during the 60's in L.A.). Probably the best of the rest is Shelly's Mannehole which also competed for out of town stars.But I consider the best booking ever played at the Lighthouse was in the spring of 1962 when Dizzy Gillespie's band with Leo Wright, Lalo Schiffren, Chris White and Candy Finch had a run. I was there with a musician buddy of mine from UCLA on Sunday from 2 P.M. until closing. The joint was packed from the opening and I doubt that anyone ever left either! The band just blew the roof off and everyone loved Dizzy. As proof of how cool the staff was, my buddy got away without ordering a thing explaining that he had just had four wisdom teeth removed. Well the next week I was walking back to my dorm after an evening class and stopped at Royce Hall to catch a little of the Philadelphia Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy. In the wings, I saw a lot of the same crowd that had been catching Dizzy on Sunday. I'm sure they were L.A. studio musicians. The jazz fans in L.A. had it great during the Lighthouse's tenure. God bless Howard Rumsey!
D**Y
Sunday Afternoons, I Was There
I bought Ken Koenig's dvd for the personal connection I had with this place. 1951 - 1958 I was 8-13 years old living in neighboring Manhattan Beach. I don't recall exactly when but I wandered down 3 blocks to the pier in Hermosa and heard these mesmerizing horns and drums (sorry Howard) coming out of a little hole in the next to a big hotel. I followed the lemmings (all in our swim suits) to these exhilarating sounds that pulsated through our entire bodies in the warm California sun. West Coast Jazz? East Coast Jazz? I'll leave such interpretations to journalists more knowledgeable than myself. I just know that I heard Shorty, Bud, Coop, Shelly and assorted other big names that I have come to appreciate more over time. You can catch some of these classic performances on "Frankly Jazz" through You Tube. Shorty also lives in several of the old Peter Gunn tv shows and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the early Bruce Brown surf flicks "Slippery When Wet" & "Barefoot Adventure" highlighting the talents of Bud Shank and Bob Cooper. For me it was like church every Sunday afternoon. As an old retired guy at this stage of the game I think it's up to us as individuals to make our own "Lighthouses" even if it's only by way of computers. God bless the memories of those good old days!
T**N
The Hermosa Beach Bigots Cheated Themselves
While I very much enjoyed the DVD, some of it made me a bit angry also. I knew there were bigots around, however I did not realize how much it affected the jazz scene in Southern California until I watched this DVD. Poor fools, because of your foolishness you blew your chance to see people like Miles Davis and many other great black artists in their PRIME all because of their skin color. Some later played at the Lighthouse in the 1960's but think of what might have been had these great black artists been allowed free access to the club in the 1950's. This is WHY racism has got to STOP NOW. It kills the dreams of many good, well meaning people. Look past ones COLOR....Do it NOW AMERICA.
L**T
Interesting Documentary
I grew up in the nearby area and my aunt is the waitress they interviewed in this documentary. I was young when she worked at the Lighthouse so I never was in it but I remember hearing them talking about the Lighthouse. I found it very interesting and great to see some old pictures of that area of Hermosa Beach as well as my Aunt Esther.Jazz is not my taste in music so I was please this documentary was more about the musicians than just a bunch of music.
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