West Coast jazz refers to styles ofjazz that developed in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a subgenre ofcool jazz, which consisted of a calmer style thanbebop orhard bop. The music relied relatively more on composition andarrangement than on the individually improvised playing of other jazz styles. Although this style dominated, it was not the only form of jazz heard on theAmerican West Coast.

BeforeWorld War II, the west coast of the U.S. hosted a bustling music scene, though its activity remained largely localized.^[1] In 1917,Jelly Roll Morton moved to California and remained in Los Angeles until 1922, when he left for Chicago.^{[2][3]: 481}Kid Ory formed a band in Los Angeles after moving to California in 1919.^[4] In 1944,Norman Granz began stagingJazz at the Philharmonic shows atPhilharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles.^[1] In 1946,Ross Russell establishedDial Records in Hollywood to recordCharlie Parker during his sojourn in Los Angeles.^[5] Meanwhile, a thriving jazz scene had appeared along Los Angeles'sCentral Avenue, featuringDexter Gordon,Wardell Gray,Teddy Edwards,Charles Mingus, andBuddy Collette. Central Avenue's activity rivaled that of the earlierKansas City jazz scene, but at the time it was little-known outside Los Angeles.^[1]

In 1947,Woody Herman organized a new band, the Second Herd, in Los Angeles. The group included tenor saxophonistsStan Getz,Zoot Sims, andHerbie Steward, and baritone saxophonistSerge Chaloff. The resulting "Four Brothers" sound (named for theJimmy Giuffre composition, "Four Brothers," which highlighted this group) was a precursor of the cool style.^{[3]: 336 [6]}

In 1949–1950 baritone saxophonistGerry Mulligan participated in theMiles Davis band, contributing arrangements to the recordings that becameBirth of the Cool (1957). In 1952 Mulligan, who had moved to California, formed an innovative and successful piano-less quartet with trumpeterChet Baker, drummerChico Hamilton, and bassist Bob Whitlock.^{[1][3]: 304} Mulligan would later form adecet based on theBirth of the Cool nonet.^[1]

In 1950,Stan Kenton disbanded his Innovations Orchestra in Los Angeles. Many of the musicians, some of whom had also played in Woody Herman's band, chose to remain in California. TrumpeterShorty Rogers and drummersStan Levey andShelly Manne were central figures among this group of musicians. Much of this activity centered on the Hermosa BeachLighthouse Café, where bassistHoward Rumsey led a house band, the Lighthouse All-Stars.^[1]

Manne suggested that these musicians' relaxed lifestyle in California was reflected in a laid-back, relaxed approach to jazz.^[7]Bob Rusch concurs:

The West coast sound perhaps didn't have the gravitas that the East coast had, but, after all, these were Californians enjoying the sun and the surf and the extent that celebrity offered itself through the studio work that the entertainment industry was offering. So I think, you know, you think of California as sun and surf, you think of New York City as cement and grit, and the music somewhat reflected that. One better than the other? Depends what you want.^[8]

During the 1950s, Chico Hamilton led an ensemble that (unusual for a jazz group) included a cellist,Fred Katz. Tanner, Gerow, and Megill liken Hamilton's music tochamber music, and have noted that Hamilton's "subtle rhythmic control and use of different drum pitches and timbres" were well-suited for this style of music.^[6]

In 1951, pianistDave Brubeck hired alto saxophonistPaul Desmond, forming a quartet.^{[1][3]: 119} Desmond's playing style ran counter to bebop, as he seldom usedblues elements, and was influenced byPete Brown andBenny Carter rather than Charlie Parker.^{[1][3]: 203}

ThePacific Jazz andContemporary record labels were two of the best known that carried West Coast jazz, just asBlue Note andPrestige were the biggest hard-bop labels. Some of the major pioneers of West Coast jazz were Shorty Rogers, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Stan Getz,Bud Shank,Bob Cooper, Jimmy Giuffre, Shelly Manne,Russ Freeman,Bill Holman,Clare Fischer,Cal Tjader,André Previn, and Dave Brubeck with Paul Desmond. In 1952–1962 jazz singerAnita O'Day recorded 17 albums for Norman Granz's Los Angeles-basedNorgran andVerve labels.^[relevant?]

While many Los Angeles area jazz musicians, particularly the former members of the Herman and Kenton bands, found regular employment in broadcast and motion picture studios, most of these musicians were white, leading to accusations that the studios deliberately excluded African Americans.^[1] The situation was a contributing factor toward the integration of the Los Angeles chapters of theAmerican Federation of Musicians during the early 1950s.^[9][10] PianistMarl Young recalled that in 1950,

as far as I knew, there were no blacks working regularly in the industry, especially on the networks – ABC, CBS and NBC. [Estelle Edson] asked me if the fact that the Musicians Unions were segregated contributed to the scarcity of blacks in the industry. It certainly could have been a contributing factor in that all the contracts for employment of musicians in the broadcast and motion picture studios were negotiated by the then all-white union, Local 47. The black union, Local 767, merely adopted the scales negotiated by Local 47, if and when a black musician got a studio call.^[9]

Young, who also held a law degree, worked with Local 767 musicians (including Buddy Collette,Red Callender, and Benny Carter) along with Local 47 members (includingRoger Segure) to integrate the union.Josephine Baker supported the local integration effort.^[9]

Although West Coast jazz is often compared to the cool style, Los Angeles musicians locally known as "hard swingers" "blew bop as tough as anything emerging out of Detroit and New York...."^[1] In later years, their music was known as "California Hard."Roy Carr notes that this is not surprising. By the late 1940s, the Central Avenue scene had the most bebop musicians outside New York. In the 1950s,Max Roach andClifford Brown, Shelly Manne, andCurtis Counce established harder-sounding bands in Los Angeles.^[1]

West Coast jazz sometimes featured a rhythm section that omitted the use of a piano, guitar, or any chordal instrument, tending to a more open and freer sound, as exemplified by the Gerry Mulligan collectionThe Original Quartet with Chet Baker (Blue Note, 1998). Another characteristic is the inclusion of non-standard jazz instruments such as the French horn and tuba. Gil Evans's arrangement on theBirth of the Cool album featured these instruments at a time when the West Coast style was emerging.^[11]

Tanner, Gerow, and Megill are largely dismissive of the term "West Coast jazz". As it often refers to Gerry Mulligan and his associates in California, "West Coast" merely becomes synonymous with "cool jazz", althoughLester Young,Claude Thornhill, and Miles Davis were based in New York. At the same time, many musicians associated with West Coast jazz "were much more involved in a hotter approach to jazz. Communication being what it is, it is hardly likely that any style of jazz was fostered exclusively in one area."^[6]

Some observers looked down upon West Coast jazz because many of its musicians were white, and because some listeners, critics, and historians perceived that the music was too cerebral, effete, or effeminate, or that it lackedswing.^[12][13][14] However,African American musicians played in the style, includingCurtis Counce,John Lewis,Chico Hamilton,Harry "Sweets" Edison,Buddy Collette,Red Callender,Harold Land,Eugene Wright andHampton Hawes.

• List of cool jazz and West Coast jazz musicians
• Black Hawk (nightclub)
• Chamber jazz
• GNP Crescendo Records
• The Haig
• Third stream

• Gioia, Ted.West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California 1945-1960 (Oxford University Press, 1992)
• Gordon, Robert.Jazz West Coast: The Los Angeles Jazz Scene of the 1950s (Quartet Books, 1986)

• Spencer, Michael Thomas (2011).Pacific Standard Time : modernism and the making of West Coast jazz.American Studies, Doctoral Theses & Dissertations (Thesis).Michigan State University.doi:10.25335/6h9j-cx39.ISBN 9781124607900. RetrievedJune 21, 2025.PDF

• 2005:Jazz on the West Coast: The Lighthouse (RoseKing Productions, Kenneth Koenig)

• West Coast jazz
• American jazz
• Jazz genres
• Music of California
• West Coast jazz musicians

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