The Kenton Era

See original article

George T Simon. "Record Review. The Kenton Era." Metronome. March 1955. 28-29, 37.

THE KENTON ERA is an impressive monument of wax. Beautifully packaged, with the finest et of notes (written by Bud Freeman) for jazz records that I have ever read, and complete with marvelous pictures, too. it trace the development of this important organization, from its early, off-the-air recordings of 1941, up to and including its appearance in Paris in late 1953.

It is, in essence, a thorough appraisal of Kenton’s contribution' to the American jazz scene. It includes his own spoken words about his music (the first side is a long, illustrated speech about his band's history, and the last a resume of where he feels it fits). Freeman's sensitive story of Stan's personal life and that of his band, plus six twelve-inch sides that illustrate just what sort of music the Kentonians were playing in the various stages of their career.

To say that this is the greatest batch of Kenton recordings ever assembled would be permitting my exuberance for the project to influence my critical judgment far too much. For, though there are some very good things here, there are also some disappointing one. And though the Kenton band is well-recorded at times, there are other times when the quality is distressingly bad.

The majority of the sides do not have the usual superb Capitol quality because they were not recorded in the company's studios. Instead. they were cut directly from performances at the Balboa Ballroom, band rehearsals, the Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, the Hollywood Bowl, the Commodore Hotel in New York, a concert on Cornell campus, the Alhambra in Paris. Some of the sides were taken from Capitol's transcription service, and some are actually previously unreleased masters made for Capitol Records.

But in spite of some of these technical deficiencies. the album does reflect wonderfully well the great spirit that ha always pervaded the Kenton organization. It displays a group of musicians who want to play what they are playing and who succeed in doing so, despite the short-comings or one or two of the members. Some of these are fired-up performances, stoked, I dare say, by the immense enthusiasm of, and the musicians' tremendous love and respect, for Kenton, himself.

balboa bandwagon

As for the music itself, side two, which has easily the poorest quality, emphasizes the band's early back-beat style. Moods, written by Ralph Yaw, is typical and shows off the first of many fine trumpet passages by Chico Alvarez, whom I enjoy more now than I did then. The Etude, a Kenton original features lovely saxes in the Don Redman vein, while Bad gives us the first real insight to Stan's penchant for wide voicing, as shown in the writing for saxes. A gal named Kay Gregory sings nicely. Lamento is a very typical instrumental of the swing band era, with more good Chico and a Hodges-like alto blown by Jack Ordean. The Rapture is nothing to go into ditto about, while the enthusiastic-sounding La Cumparsita could just as easily have been Artie Shaw's band playing. Chico stars again there. as he does on St. James, which has much good-natured Kenton singing (?) and kidding of same by the band. The Traveler is a fast flag-waver that points up the rhythm section's ineptness and Chico’s and Red Dorris's good solo horns.

growing pains

Side three finds the band playing with more authority. Lullaby, the first of many straight-forward (for this band) arrangements by Joe Rizzo, packs a wallop plus Dave Matthews' soulful tenor. Sugar has no back beats—instead some Lunceford-like sounds, nicely penned by Charlie Shirley, as well as some very fine singing by Dolly Mitchell. The Opus is Pete Rugolo's first contribution to the band and is a typically incisive, hard-pounding, emphatic four-four instrumental of that Kenton stage. Know is a flag-waver, that might have come from Glenn Miller's book, featuring more good Matthews plus Stan's first high-note screecher. John Carroll. Anita O'Day bows on Pad, a typical hip novelty of the mid-forties, sung in her usual good manner. The Ol’ Man has nothing startling to offer, April shows off a sensitive vocal by Gene Howard, the same Gene Howard who look that great photo of Stan that graces the cover of this magazine. Liza, another Shirley opus, show off Carroll as an exciting James-like trumpeter, plus a very much improved Red Dorris.

artistry in rhythm

Side four has selections from Capitol's transcription library. One Twenty is a Kenton original, a heavy, four-four swing thing that features Boots Mussulli's Carter-like alto. The Body is a tour de force for Vido Musso's big-toned, soulful tenor. Tea is credited to Gene Roland, but it sounds more like a head arrangement, beginning as it does with long solos by Stan and Eddie Safranski and then going into a lot of swinging riffs. Never has June Christy's first vocal of the album plus lots of fine Safranski bassing. There's more of Eddie (who's all over the place on this side) on the moody String, nicely scored by Rugolo, excellently blown by Vido. The Swing hit by Roland is really Tea for Two again and shows off some exciting, wild Kai Winding trombone. Gene Howard comes back for a pretty ballad, after which Stan, Eddie and Ray Wetzel, blowing an especially pretty, beautifully-controlled trumpet passage, wind up the side with a fine mood version of More Than You Know.

progressive jazz

Side five gets going on its second band with some more good Safranski on If I, plus some wild, humorous tromboning by Skip Layton, who, for my dough, never did get the recognition he deserves. The River has some fast group swing singing by the Pastels, while the Lady is all Safranski, first fairly well bowed, then excellently plucked. Stan plays a pretty piano solo on Pete's Interlude, after which June sings Rainbow as badly as possible. Machito is a short but effective wild, screaming bit, and then the side closes with an Elegy, written by both Stan and Pete, that shows off some pretty but at times too reedy alto saxing by George Weidler, plus a typically tense Kenton wind-up.

innovations

Side six is devoted to the huge orchestra with which Stan did concerts in 1950. Though the recording balances are not always good (one wonders whether Stan was ashamed of the fiddles of whether the engineers didn't know what to do with them), there is a sort of musical brilliance about these works that heralds even greater things to come some time in Stan's future. Veradero is an exciting Latin rhythm opus of Neal Hefti's that has some fine Bud Shank flute and great over-all excitement. Amazonia is a lovely composition by Laurindo Almeida, exquisitely played on guitar by its composer. Salute is an ambitious Rugolo offering, replete with tempo changes and featuring some pretty trombone by Harry Betts and some amazingly high screeching by Maynard Ferguson. Coop’s is a Shortv Rogers vehicle for Bob Cooper who blows his tenor very prettily for awhile in the upper register, then sounds less impressive as Shorty takes him and the band into (what else would you expect?) Afro-Cuban forays. Ennui is a Iovely opus by Bill Russo that shows some wonderfully articulate trombone by Betts. Manny Aban's Samana is an enthusiastic-sounding Afro-Cuban number. with a trombone figure repeated over and over again with great intensity and spotting an Art Pepper solo that is pretty hard to catch.

contemporary

Side seven shows the band at both its most relaxed and its most intense as it plays a group of arrangements by modern writers. This Gerry Mulligan's Swing House, which resounds to the name of Sweet Georgia Brown, is a nice, loose thing that gives blowing room to Frank Rosolino, Lee Konitz, Richie Kamuca and Conte Condoli, with the first two notably fine. On the other hand, Bob Graettinger’s Head is an intense-sounding bit of impressionistic neuroticism that, to put it most mildly, bothers me. Alrneida's Baa is a Latin composition with a pleasant and catchy theme. Following an unnecessarily pompous intro, Johnny Richards' version of Stella uses the interesting device of featuring George Roberts' warm-sounding bass trombone as a ballad solo instrument, but after awhile the effect becomes wearisome. After all. how romantic can a bull-frog sound? Bill Russo's Bill's Blues has a great ensemble sound and some fine alto by Lennie Niehaus. Graettinger's Opus is full of more dissonances (the man has penned far better things than these two here). The finale is the happiest-sounding number in the entire package. It's Bill Holman's fine original called Zoot and it features great, swinging Z. Sims and some ditto ensemble passages. blown with mighty enthusiasm in the midst of a concert in France.

epilogue

Side eight is comparatively short. It consists of more intelligent talk by Stan, plus a rather lengthy version of his theme. and that's all.

And that's that, insofar as a direct evaluation of the music in The Kenton Era goes. For any Kenton fan this album is quite naturally a must item. To those who may not know the man and his music too well, or who may have misunderstood him and it up to now, I can think of no better way than owning this album to pick up on what may heretofore have let you down. Capitol and Bud Freeman, especially, are to be highly commended for this notable, tasteful salute to a man and his band who deserve every single bit of it.

Martin, Joe. "Record Review. Sales Loom for Kenton De Luxe Set." Billboard 26 Feb. 1955: 30.

The Kenton Era (4-12” LP’s)—Stan Kenton Ork—Capitol WDX 569

For the past half dozen years (if not longer) Stan Kenton’s music has been the object of much controversy. Capitol’s tribute to the man in newly issued deluxe album package will stir up more of this controversy. Certainly the critics who ‘write for the consumer press will have plenty to say about the package. It should all add up to good sales for retailers on a profitable high-ticket, “limited edition” package.

The package includes four 12­inch LP’s which present the Kenton band from its inception in California to a new studio band’s “progressive” reading of the ork’s theme, “Artistry in Rhythm.” There can be no argument with the appeal this set will have to the many, many loyal Kenton followers. To others (those who can take the band or leave it) it might be an expensive purchase. For it was mainly among the musically erudite that Kenton achieved a stature akin that of Glenn Miller or Benny Goodman. For many, the band was never more than a good dance band which got “a little wild” at times.

The 44-page book of photo, personnel listing and fictionalized Kenton bio may be a bit pretentiously planned. It does, however, dig into Kenton’s thinking—an asset for those who revel in the man’s ideas and the band’s performances. Tho two of the eight sides are pretty much taken up by a spoken prolog and epilog, there’s still a good selection of previously unreleased performances.

Packaging, which is excellent, should do much to attract sales.