Artist: Shelly Manne

Sheldon "Shelly" Manne was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland,  swing, bebop, avant-garde jazz, and later fusion. He also contributed to the musical background of hundreds of  Hollywood films and television programs. 

Billy Gladstone, one of the most admired percussionist on the New York theatrical scene, offered the teenage Shelly tips and encouragement.  From that time, Manne rapidly developed his style in the clubs of 52nd Street in New York in the late 1930s and 1940s. His first professional job with a known big band was with the Bobby Byrne  Orchestra in 1940.  In those years, as he became known, he recorded with jazz stars like Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Shavers, and Don Byas. He also worked with a number of musicians mainly associated with Duke Ellington, like Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney,  Lawrence Brown, and Rex Stewart. 

When the bebop movement began to change jazz in the 1940s, Manne loved it and adapted to the style rapidly, performing with Dizzy Gillespie and  Charlie Parker.  Around this time he also worked with rising stars like Flip Phillips, Charlie Ventura, Lennie Tristano, and Lee Konitz. 

Manne rose to stardom when he became part of the working bands of Woody Herman and, especially,  Kenton in the late 1940s and early 1950s, winning awards and developing a following at a time when jazz was the most popular music in the United States.

In the early 1950s, Manne left New York and settled permanently on a ranch in an outlying part of Los Angeles, from which point onward, he played an important role in the West Coast school of jazz, performing on the Los Angeles jazz scene with Shorty Rogers, Hampton Hawes, Red Mitchell, Art Pepper, Russ Freeman, Frank Rosolino, Chet Baker, Leroy Vinnegar, Pete Jolly, Howard McGhee, Bob Gordon, Conte Candoli,  Sonny Criss, and numerous others.  

Though he always insisted on the importance of time and "swing", Manne's concept of his own drumming style typically pointed to his melody-based  approach. He contrasted his style with that of Max Roach: "Max plays melodically from the rhythms he plays. I play rhythms from thinking melodically"