Here’s an interesting duo piece with Shelly Manne and pianist Russ Freeman, from Manne’s 1954 record The Three & The Two. Also on the record are Shorty Rogers and Jimmy Giuffre, all Lighthouse regulars— there was a lot of creative music brewing at the time.
This is a tight little abstract arrangement, with some close coordination between the piano and drums, showcasing some of Manne’s unusual use of percussion, without being an outright novelty piece. He plays with sticks, brushes, and mallets, and there are some pitch bends. He also plays boobams— basically a predecessor to the octoban, made out of bamboo. They’re really a California instrument. Harry Partch, living in the Bay Area, made them, and at least a couple of sets (apparently) made their way to LA, and onto a lot of movie soundtracks— like Emil Richards had to have had some.
I’ve written out the whole thing, the arranged parts and Manne’s improvised solos. There are three 32 bar sections where the piano solos. In a few spots piano figures are indicated by slash marks— it’s really tight with the drums, they’re playing interlocking parts very accurately.
Note the pitch bends— I believe he’s pressing the head of the other mallet into the drumhead. Boobams are the circled notes in the tom tom area of the staff.
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