Ten albums by Richie Kamuka

I heard Richie Kamuka at Newcastle City Hall in 1960 as part of the Shelly Manne Quintet (photo from programme) which, in turn, was part of that year's JATP package. With a line-up of Kamuka (tenor sax); Joe Gordon (trumpet); Russ Freeman (piano); Monty Budwig (bass) and Manne (drums) it was a formidable aggregation that laid waste to the theory that the cool guys from the [west] coast didn't swing.

The two horns in particular could have held their own with the Jazz Messengers and indeed Gordon did appear on a 10" album with Blakey. Sadly Kamuka and Gordon died young. Gordon was 35 when he perished in a house fire and Kamuka was a day short of his 47th birthday when he succumbed to cancer.

In selecting ten albums I've left out the big band recordings he made with Kenton and Herman as well as some by Shorty Rogers, Marty Paich and Art Pepper - they are for another day. So, here we are, in chronological order:

1) Cy Touff: His Octet & Quintet (1955).

2) Stan Levey: Grand Stan (1956).

3) Richie Kamuka: Richie Kamuka Quartet (1957).

4) Bill Perkins and Richie Kamuka: Tenors Head-on (1957).

5) Richie Kamuka and Bill Holman: West Coast Jazz in Hifi (1959).

6) Shelly Manne & His Men: At The Black Hawk Vol.1 (1959).

7) Shelly Manne & His Men: At The Black Hawk Vol. 2 (1959).

8) Shelly Manne & His Men: Checkmate (1961).

9) Richie Kamuka Quartet: Richie (1976).

10) Richie Kamuka Quartet: Drop me Off in Harlem (1977).

The final album, recorded not long before he died, has Kamuka singing Dear Bix. Roly Veitch psyched me on to this many years ago and I was immediately hooked by the song, the singer and the composer (Dave Frishberg). I've heard Roly doing a pretty good job on it himself. On the quartet album Richie, Kamuka sings 'Tis Autumn (no link unfortunately), his laid back, slightly hoarse, but not unpleasantly so, voice suggests he could have taken Chet Baker's route and recorded a vocal album.

It would have been worth hearing.  Lance