The alto saxophonist and flutist died in his home in Tucson, Arizona last week. He was 82.

To non-jazz enthusiasts, he was the one with the beautiful flute playing in the Mamas & The Papas' 60s hit California Dreamin'. And he had a hit album in 1966 with jazz versions of pop hits at the time. But most of all, his was the epitome of the West Coast Jazz style that started in the late 40s after his move to California from his hometown Dayton in Ohio.

He studied and played with Shorty Rogers, Charlie Barnet, and Stan Kenton before joining Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse Allstars. He was also one of the very first American jazz artists to embrace Brazilian music styles and later in the 60s also recorded some film scores. Shank's style was described as utterly melodic and expressive and evolved from the cool Charlie Parker bop to a highly unique and distinctive West Coast sound.

In the 70s, Shank formed a group which released a string of excruciatingly beautiful albums on Concord Jazz: The L.A. Four which featured Laurindo Almeida on guitar, Ray Brown on bass, and various drummers, Shelly Manne among them. These albums are sheer bliss and underline the fact that he was on par with the likes of Phil Woods or Jackie McLean. Although he was one of the first flutists in jazz, he then dropped that instrument to focus more on his alto saxophone playing.

The last two decades brought some more powerful playing with small group ensembles. in 2005, he formed the Bud Shank Big Band and his last album was released on Jazzed Media in 2007 and was called Beyond The Red Door. Shank was in the recording studio the day before he died for another recording session.