Groove o' the day: Shelly Manne — Way Out West

Here are a couple of very famous things by Shelly Manne, from the album Way Out West by Sonny Rollins. Sonny could be a little perverse in his tune selections, often choosing things that would be considered hokey or uninteresting by many jazz musicians; and here, on the occasion of making a record in LA, he did a couple of cowboy songs. Manne, who was by all accounts a funny, creative cat, chose to use a woodblock to give those numbers a little bit of a horsey flavor.

Swing the 8th notes on Johnny Mercer's I'm An Old Cowhand:

On Wagon Wheels he plays a little backwards hemiola thing:

Audio after the break:




Cowhand:


Wagon Wheels: