Favorite Recording Engineer? You’ve probably never heard of him!
April 2019 – still in the throws of a major Art Pepper obsession, I ordered a bunch of records from a Discogs retailer in the UK: the order included records by Wardell Gray, Sonny Rollins, Brew Moore, Tadd Dameron, Clark Terry, and, for £10, the record pictured here (minus the obi strip). Although the leader of that session was Shelly Manne – all of his recordings as a leader are good – the reason I bought this recording was because it featured -> Art Pepper (more about this later). So, I spun each of those records in order until I came to the 1981 recording on a weird japanese label (Atlas) that featured a bad photo of a bunch of middle aged guys on the cover (Frank Wollfe era Blue Note this was not). There was an impressive insert in Japanese with an interesting illustration of the positioning of the instruments in the studio – that included the models of microphones and their positioning. I had never seen this before. I spun the record, expectation fairly low and, holy crap, I was transported to the front row of the Haig nightclub circa 1956. Each instrument was perfectly placed in three dimensional space, the bass rumbled and plucked along shimmering in front of my face, the timbre of the brass instruments was pitch perfect, the piano (Pete Jolly) actually sounded like a piano. Eureka – I had never heard jazz reproduced so perfectly – on 120g vinyl on a Japanese label.
After a little bit of digging – and I presume that this story is true – I discovered that Art and Laurie Pepper made a deal with Atlas/Yupiteru records to cut a series of traditional 1950s style jazz albums for the Japanese market, using mostly the original west coast jazz (WCJ) musicians from 30 years earlier. The only catch was that Pepper was signed to an exclusive contract to Fantasy/Galaxy records. No mind – the records would be recorded with other nominal leaders and he would be the sideman. The “Leaders” were Bill Watrous, Sonny Stitt, Jack Sheldon, Lee Konitz, Pete Jolly and, as mentioned, Shelly Manne. All really excellent audiophile recordings. The musicians were a who’s who of 1950s LA (Hampton Hawes had died in 1977, and Bob Magnusson – who is phenomenal – plays bass on a lot of these recordings). Fortunately, Laurie Pepper teamed up with Omnivore records a few years ago and re-released these recordings on CD – known as “West Coast Sessions” and you can find them on most streaming services.
Having acquired the Pepper sides – I remained intrigued – was it the Japanese production or the recording studio that was responsible for the remarkable sound of these records? If you pore over the credits – two things jump out – Sage & Sound Recording Studios (S&S), Hollywood Ca. and James (Jim) Mooney (JM) engineer. It turns out that Jim Mooney and the studio were one and the same. So I started buying JM engineered records that were recorded at S&S.
I presumed that there would be a shrine somewhere on the internet to this audiophile jazz recording genius – after all, virtually everyone has heard of Van Gelder – and I believe that Mooney’s 1970s & 1980s recordings sound better. But no. No shrine. WTF? So – here is what I can piece together (more information about this legend would be appreciated).
Jim Mooney was born in 1934 in Kansas City, but grew up in San Gabriel California – about 10 miles outside Los Angeles. He was an avid jazz fan – playing trumpet in various combos, while working for the Pacific Bell telephone company in the 1950s. He developed an interest in recording, particularly jazz – in a garage in the back of the building in which he worked. Eventually he took a job at a recording studio owned by Woodie Fleener – at Selma Avenue. The studio was called Sage and Sand, and Fleener combined recording with music publishing. In late 1969 Fleener and a co-worker were stabbed in a robbery attempt. Fleener was paralysed and died a couple of years later of his injuries. Jim Mooney bought the studio title and masters– changing it to “Sage & Sound” – and moved it to Gordon Avenue. He built the new studio himself, and it remains in that location until this day. Mooney ran the studio for almost 30 years. Early recordings (from about 1972) featured a variety of different jazz artists that included Lew Tabakin, his wife – the legendary Toshiko Akiyoshi and their big band, Gary Bartz, Sonny Stitt – and quite a few others (who are not household names) mostly for Catalyst records – a short lived west coast jazz label. At the end of the 1970s and early 1980s a new breed of west coast jazz musician emerged – Bill Watrous, Bobby Shew, Cal Collins, Mark Murphy – and Mooney recorded them all. The Yupiteru Records/Atlas connection started in 1979 with a Bill Watrous record, featuring Art Pepper – but I am dubious, based on timing, if this album is really part of the west coast-Pepper suite (a Shelly Manne trio album came out almost simultanously). Around this time George Cables seems to have signed an exclusive contract with Atlas/Yupiteru – and he recorded many albums at S&S. The “West Coast Sound” series ran up until about 1986. A variety of other labels, including Fresh Sounds records (Barcelona Spain – behind the Jazz Workshop reissues) recorded both revival and nostalgia related jazz sides at the studio right into the 1990s. The studio also recorded standard Hollywood fare – TV and movie soundtracks, college bands etc.
Some very notable artists recorded at S&S. Horace Silver split from Blue Note for a while and formed his own Silveto record label – and recorded or remixed 4 or 5 albums with Mooney. Harold Land recorded the wonderful Xocia’s Dance there. If you like the bluesy piano jazz of Red Garland – I would strongly recommend “Misty Red” (1983). Chet Baker recorded (at least part of) his last album with Mooney. Freddie Hubbard is reported to have recorded there – I just can’t identify the record. Bud Shank, Bob Cooper, Bill Perkins, Jack Sheldon, Shorty Rodgers, Herb Geller, the Candoli brothers, Terry Gibbs – quite a number of west coast legends recorded late career highlights at S&S with Jim Mooney. What they have in common is that the albums sound great and look absolutely awful – just horrible horrible cover art. In fact of the 45 or so Mooney/S&S albums that I have on vinyl (see some of them below) – the only cover that I like is “Old Acquaintance” by Conte Candoli & Phil Woods – because the cover contains a picture of the musicians in the studio. Otherwise it is – yuck! In fact I would argue that the collectability of these records is seriously hindered by their awful cover art (nobody is going to confuse S&S recordings with Blue Notes, Prestige, ECM or ACT). Hard to believe but a Bill Perkins tribute album, to Lester Young, is attributed to Bill Parkins – seriously – they (the producers, not Mooney, obviously) couldn’t even spell his name! The cover photo- one of the better ones – appears to be of a shore in the middle of a street at sunset (it could be a hubcap).
Although a number of excellent blues revival albums of the 1980s (Robert Cray/Joe Louis Walker etc.) were recorded at Sage & Sound, they were not engineered by Jim Mooney. And you can tell…..!
In the late 1990s, the writing was on the wall for recording studios – digital recording became inexpensive and young bands started recording their albums on personal computers using Pro Tools and other programs [and the sound quality dropped commensurate with that]. Owning a studio became an expensive business, and Jim and his wife Laverne sold up. Mooney continued to work as a freelance engineer, but retired in 1998 to play golf and enjoy the weather. He died in 2015. If ever they get around (and they should) to opening a West Coast Jazz Hall of Fame – there should be a exhibit for Jim Mooney who, along with Roy DuNann, has left us a great legacy of jazz recordings.
As I have mentioned – all the Mooney records are worth a listen – they are listed on Discogs under both James and Jim – which is a bit annoying. I would strongly recommend the “West Coast Jazz Today” collection (with the blue obi).
The current owners of Sage & Sound, who seem like really nice people have made a series of entertaining videos – with reference to Jim Mooney in the first 2. Please view here (episode 1 from 20 mins) and here (episode 2 from 22 minutes). It would be really great if they could put up a page in memory of Jim Mooney, with a decent biography and a few reference recordings.
So, if you’re in a record store and having a dig thru a second hand jazz bin and you come across a record that was clearly made in the 70s or 80s with an appalling cover, featuring a bad photo of middle aged men, STOP; turn the cover around – look for the name James Mooney, engineer – and if his name is there – BUY IT – you won’t be disappointed.
audioexchange 
Jim Mooney was a great guy and a long time personal friend of mine. Jim recorded, engineered two of my albums, one in Sage and Sound. I played a saxophone solo for him at his memorial.
Jim Mooney engineered three of my jazz releases in the 90’s: Trane of Thought, Standards, Vol. 1, and Pleiadian Call | Music for Trio, all on my independent label gwsfourwinds.
Jim was a wonderful person in so many ways, as a human being with endless patience and humor, and of course, a fabulous recording engineer to work with and spend time. I learned his unique set of skills in the studio, and I cherish the time spent with him at Sage and Sound.
I worked closely with him for years in the 90’s, sitting next to him mixing tapes, discussing studio set ups and his preference for mics, sound proportion, etc. I have stories that could fill 50 pages. We had a great working relationship, and I met his wife and his son who both came to some of my recording sessions, on separate occasions, to listen and hang out.
It was a golden time. His presence and friendship was a gift and a blessing. Jim is one of the best.