Chuck Flores

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: drumm...