Teddy Edwards

When West Coast jazz was at its peak in the middle 1950s, tenorist Teddy Edwards was working around Los Angeles in relative obscurity. But late in the decade, when the Eastern sounds established forceful new trends, he came back with force.

In the words of pianist Joe Castro, “Leroy Vinnegar and I have played together off and on for four or five years. We were never satisfied with our drummer until we got Billy Higgins. Later casually Leroy introduced me to Teddy Edwards, when we did the Stars of Jazz TV show. Everybody felt good playing together and we naturally hung out and worked a lot together.”

The quartet began under the direction of Leroy Vinnegar, and soon worked and recorded under the leadership of both Castro and Edwards. These are all the recordings the quartet made. Edwards’ tone is vigorous, with a deep, throaty, visceral quality to it; and Castro, with his swinging and funky modern piano, is an ideal partner for this earthier direction in jazz.