In late October of 1953, about 70 years ago, producer Gene Norman—he of the label GNP/Crescendo—organized a mini-tour of the West Coast with two bands. The header was the Dave Brubeck Quartet, with Brubeck on piano, Paul Desmond on alto sax, Ron Crotty on bass, and Lloyd Davis on drums—1953 was a significant year for Brubeck: the quartet recorded Jazz at Oberlin on March 2 and Jazz at College of the Pacific on December 14, a month after that mini-tour.
The other band in the bill was a Charlie Parker quintet with Chet Baker on trumpet, Jimmy Rowles on piano, Carson Smith on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums (Parker and Baker had met the year before in California). As for Parker, on May 15 he had taken part in the famous "Quintet of the Year" concert at Massey Hall in Toronto, and in the second half of the year he would play at the Open Door in New York City, the location of some spectacular recordings and some well-known photographs by Bob Parent.
According to Leif Bo Petersen's chronology, the dates of that tour were as follows:
October 30: Olympia, WA
October 31: Seattle, WA
November 1: Portland, OR
November 2: Vancouver, BC, Canada
November 4: Eugene, OR
November 7: Hollywood, CA
November 8: San Diego, CA
In Portland, OR, they were snapped by local photographer Carl Henniger:
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| Carson Smith and Charlie Parker |
