Bud Shank Barefoot Adventure 180g LP

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Impex Records is pleased to announce a new, audiophile HQ-180 LP release of Bud Shank's pivotal 1961 classic, Barefoot Adventure.

Featuring original compositions arranged by Shank for Bruce Brown's surf film of the same name, this is a swinging, hard-driving jazz session by six top-flight musicians at the height of their careers: Bud Shank (alto and baritone), Bob Cooper (tenor), Carmell Jones (trumpet), Dennis Budimir (guitar), Gary Peacock (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).

The original Pacific Jazz recording features excellent sonics and showcases Shank at his most adventurous, playing with an advanced confidence and sophistication.

Remastered and cut to lacquer by Kevin Gray from the original 1961 analog master tape, this ultimate vinyl edition of Barefoot Adventure will satiate the most demanding audiophile and jazz enthusiast alike!

I can only describe the contents of this album as a marriage of high-brow surf music meets hard-boiled detective serial music meets beatnik coffee klatch music meets Bossa Nova! And it's so out of left field that I absolutely love it! Barefoot Adventure is dripping with more style and personality per groove rotation than anything else I've come across in a long time. Sonically, Impex has done a stellar job on this release. The vinyl has a stone-quiet background, and the dynamics and dimensions of the music are outstanding given the period. A sonically satisfying and just plain fun listen. If jazz and or the surf genre seem at all interesting to you, go grab a copy!

Albums recorded in the Sixties often tend to sound as though they're from the Sixties. Not so here; Kevin Gray's excellent transfer imbues this record with the kind of clarity and immediacy that makes one think Bud Shank and his men could have stepped into the studio yesterday and laid down these excellent sides. This LP has been out of print domestically for 58 years; no original copy you could scrounge from any distant corner of the universe will ever sound as very good as this new Impex reissue. I give Bud Shank's Barefoot Adventure my highest recommendation!

Don't let the surf theme suggest a barrage of twangy guitars à la Dick Dale or The Surfaris, fun though they are. Instead, this is a cool, sinuous jazz album musically and sonically worthy of Pacific Jazz, with saxophonist/composer Shank joined by an ensemble that included Shelly Manne, himself no stranger to screen music.

The music composed by Shank is in places adventurous, but always grounded by first-rate musicianship, producing in places a creative tension. Carmell Jones shines on trumpet with a wonderful tone and striking improvisations throughout, while guitar enthusiasts will appreciate the unusual playing of a young Dennis Budimir, who plays loose and laid back with the time and harmonics of the music. The rest of the personnel are world-class West Coast musicians and truly excellent. The vinyl surfaces are flawless and the packaging excellent.

Pacific Jazz releases were always well recorded, and this title is no exception...the soundstage is gorgeous. More importantly, the music is fun. It is upbeat, quick-paced, horn-front-line-driven music, and each instrument is clearly defined. It is seriously good and does not forget that its top priority is to entertain — serious music that is not so serious, in other words. It reminds me of another fun West Coast record with a bigger band, Henry Mancini's Combo! Both were released in 1961, and each appealed to the crossover crowd of the day: light-jazz enthusiasts graduating from the bachelor-pad music of the 1950s to real jazz without all the atonal stuff. The albums must have sounded rather good on the stereo consoles and bookshelf speakers of the day. On today's far more sophisticated audio systems, they sound as good as anything recorded before or since.