BUD SHANK BACK IN JAZZ MAINSTREAM

Bud Shank has always been a first-class musician--but it wasn’t always on his own terms. Now, for the second time in his life, he’s a free-lance jazzman, and he couldn’t be happier.

“I’m back to playing jazz because that’s what I wanted to do all along.”

For a time, “circumstances didn’t permit that, and I was very frustrated.”

Shank, 60, a former Stan Kenton sideman, was very popular in the ‘50s, playing locally--at the Lighthouse and the Haig--and throughout the U.S. and Europe, and recording extensively. But by 1962, “circumstances” had basically put him out of work as a jazzman.

“Here in town and all over the U.S., the bottom just fell out (of the jazz market),” Shank said recently. “So from 1963-75, I did TV and motion picture work. As far as jazz was concerned, all I did was occasionally work at Donte’s, or Shelly’s (Manne-Hole). There were no other places to play.”

The bearded musician, who plays at Catalina’s Bar & Grill in Hollywood tonight and Saturday, found his timing was as good in getting studio work as it was at playing a sizzling blues.

“In the early ‘50s, there was sort of a unwritten rule that jazz musicians wouldn’t do film work because they couldn’t read and weren’t capable. But as soon as guys like Shelly (Manne), Shorty (Rogers) and Bob Cooper--who were well-educated jazzmen--proved that we were capable, the doors opened. Which was great, because when we needed the work, we were accepted,” said Shank. “Then in the ‘60s, guys with jazz roots, both players and writers, dominated the film industry. It was marvelous. It was lucky. It was great.”

Shank was making money, but he wasn’t getting any emotional release from music. “I started racing sailboats,” he said. “In the ‘70s I found myself getting my name in the paper for winning sail boat races instead of playing saxophone (Shank’s ‘Xanalyn’ won the IOR Large Sailing Yachts division of the 1972 Santa Monica Midsummer Regatta). The boat was my instrument, the crew was my rhythm section. That was my release. There was no artistic satisfaction in studio work.”

In 1975, Shank, bassist Ray Brown, guitarist Laurindo Almeida and Manne decided to test the jazz waters and formed the L.A. Four, which Shank calls “a mass appeal group.”

“The L.A. Four was interesting in concept,” mixing classical and jazz styles. “But after a couple of years, I felt confined, and it was that kind of confinement that made me leave the studios.”

Shank, who now resides with his wife, Lynn, in Port Townsend, Wash., dove headlong into the mainstream jazz arena. He’s been successful but looks forward to his current program of regular club engagements with mixed emotions.

“The best things are created in clubs. The freedom is there. Unfortunately, it’s an atmosphere of drinking and whoopee. I recently recorded a quartet at Seattle’s Jazz Alley (due to be released in April) and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” he said.

“I’ve matured musically, which permits me to be more aggressive,” he said. “I think I was inhibited before. I wanted to be cool in the early ‘50s. It was hip to reflect the life style of L.A. I don’t care what it is to be hip now. I’m being myself now. It’s what I wish I had been a long time ago, but it takes longer in some people.”