Barney Kessel - 1950

[AndyV]

From Nick Rossi's FB post:
"Two views of Barney Kessel and one of his Gibson ES-350 guitars in 1950, photographed by Bob Douglas jamming at Whisling's Hawaii night club located at 6507 Sunset Boulevard near the corner of Wilcox Avenue in Hollywood. The second photo also features Hampton Hawes (piano), Addison Farmer (bass), and Bumps Meyers (tenor sax). Whisling's Hawaii was opened in the late-1940s (no later than 1947) by "Whisling" Bill Ornellas, an early hurricane bar owner in Los Angeles. The club ran for about a decade before Ornellas sold the place and it was later most famously known as the Club Lingerie during the 1980s-1990s. It is currently a high-end night spot called the Warwick. In August 1950, Whisling's Hawaii started featuring Sunday late-afternoon/early-evening (4 until 9 p.m.) jazz jam sessions presented by disk jockey's Lin Hillburn and Roy Loggins. These photos were almost certainly taken during one of those Sunday jam sessions, as the club typically featured Hawaiian-style entertainment during most other evenings.

By the summer of 1950, Kessel was firmly ensconced in the L.A. studio scene, so much so that small combo jazz recordings are a rarity in his 1949-1951 discography until he took a hiatus from his "day job" to join the Oscar Peterson Trio for a year in 1951. Although he would surface on discs for a few bars here and there (see link in Comments below), opportunities to jam with fellow jazz greats such as Hampton Hawes were invaluable to keeping his chops up during this period."

[YOGA64]

Great!!!

[brent.h]

Amazing pic! He must have been 26-27 here...