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A superior bop pianist influenced by Bud Powell, Claude Williamson remained busy playing on the West Coast for a half century, beginning in the 1950s. The older brother of trumpeter Stu Williamson, Claude started on piano when he was seven and had ten years of classical piano lessons, also studying at the New England Conservatory. Williamson's first major musical job was with Charlie Barnet's orchestra in 1947. This was followed by stints with Red Norvo (1948), Barnet's bebop big band of 1949, and June Christy (1950-1951). In the 1950s, Williamson worked regularly with Bud Shank, Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars, with his own trios, and as a studio musician. He spent most of the 1960s and '70s in the studios, although he returned to jazz in the 1980s with his improvising style virtually unchanged. Having led sessions for Capitol (1954-1955), Bethlehem, Criterion, Contract (1961-1962), Sea Breeze (1977), Interplay, Discovery, Fresh Sound, and a few Japanese labels, Williamson recorded a memorable tribute to Bud Powell for V.S.O.P. in 1995. He continued to play regularly in the Los Angeles area and issue recordings into the 21st century. Claude Williamson died in July 2016 at the age of 89. ~ Scott Yanow

The closest thing the West Coast jazz scene has to its own actual flora and fauna would be drummer Chuck Flores, and not just because of the sound of his surname. He has been involved almost exclusively with the growth of creative music in this part of the United States through several generations of stylistic developments, not only laying down the groove for Los Angeles legend Art Pepper but giving drum lessons to young Chad Wackerman prior to the latter drummer's ascension into the Frank Zappa dynasty. Flores had a pretty good teacher of his own back in the early '50s: drummer Shelly Manne, who later opened one of the most famous modern jazz venues on the West Coast, Shelly's Manne-Hole.

Flores' earliest employers were bandleader Ike Carpenter, with whom he gigged in sunny Balboa, and trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, who flipped around and flagged Flores for the vacant drum chair in friend Woody Herman's big band. This kept Flores occupied through the mid-'50s. Then he became a noted freelancer, especially suited to the subtle demands of West Coast jazz improvisation. He performed and recorded with saxophonist and flutist Bud Shank as well as with the aforementioned Pepper; a Mosaic reissue of the former artist's collaboration with tenor saxophonist Bob Cooper plus a string section has garnered Flores much desired critical reappraisal, the consensus being that he is underrated.

In 1974 Flores became part of a group with bossa nova guitarist Laurindo Almeida plus Shank and the great bassist Ray Brown -- dubbed the LA Four, this evolved into one of the essential combos from Southern California. Flores recorded a pair of albums as a bandleader in the '70s, the pick of which is the 1977 Drum Flower on the Jazz Concord label.

As impressive as all of that is, the following excerpt from a 1957 Stan Kenton tour diary is a much more exciting way to conclude this biography, referencing two of the most entertaining pastimes known to mankind, sight-reading and sex: "Chuck Flores, who was not noted for being a good sight-reader, had to spend hours privately rehearsing all the arrangements, prior to the main rehearsals. He also lost his virginity in Melbourne, thanks to the Australian musicians, who were more than delighted to procure a girl for his 'night of nights.'" ~ Eugene Chadbourne