Bud Shank was born in Dayton, Ohio, United States.[1] He began playing the clarinet in Vandalia, Ohio, but switched to saxophone before attending the University of North Carolina.[1] While at UNC, Shank was initiated into the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. In 1946, he worked with Charlie Barnet before moving on to Kenton and the West coast jazz scene.[1] He also had a strong interest in what might now be termed world music, playing Brazilian-influenced jazz with Laurindo Almeida in 1953 and 1954.[1] In 1958, he became the first American jazz musician to record in Italy, with an Italian jazz orchestra conducted by Ezio Leoni (aka Len Mercer), paving the way for Chet Baker and others who would follow Shank's tracks recording in Milan with Maestro Leoni. In 1958 and 1960, Shank provided the soundtracks for two Bruce Brown surf movies: Slippery When Wet and Barefoot Adventure. His world music collaborations continued in 1962, fusing jazz with Indian traditions in collaboration with Indian composer and sitar player Ravi Shankar.[3]
In 1974, Shank joined with Ray Brown, Shelly Manne (replaced by Jeff Hamilton after 1977), and Laurindo Almeida to form the group the L.A. Four, who recorded and toured extensively through 1982.[1] Shank helped to popularize both Latin-flavored and chamber jazz music, and as a musician's musician also performed with orchestras as diverse as the Royal Philharmonic, the New American Orchestra, the Gerald Wilson Big Band, Stan Kenton's Neophonic Orchestra, and Duke Ellington.[4]
In 2005, he formed the Bud Shank Big Band in Los Angeles to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Stan Kenton's Neophonic Orchestra.[1]
A documentary film about Shank, Bud Shank: Against the Tide (Portrait of a Jazz Legend), was produced and directed by Graham Carter and released by Jazzed Media as a DVD (with a companion CD) in 2008. The film has been awarded four indie film awards including an Aurora Awards Gold.
Shank died on April 2, 2009, of a pulmonary embolism at his home in Tucson, Arizona, one day after returning from San Diego, California, where he was recording a new album.[5][6]