Kenton Showcase: The Music of Bill Russo

Hentoff, Nat. "Record Review. Showcase." Down Beat, 22 September 1954: 12-13.

Stan Kenton
A Theme of Four Values; Study for Bass; Blues Before and After; Bacante; Thisbe; Egdon Heath; Sweets; Dusk Bags; Hav-a-Havana; Solo for Buddy; The Opener; Fearless Finlay; Theme and Variations; In Lighter Vein; King Fish.

Rating: ★ ★ ★

The first eight are compositions by Bill Russo and the last eight are works by Bill Holman. With the exception of Holman's work for ensemble, Theme and Variations, none of the 16 strikes me as wholly integrated, mature composition. There is in Russo's work, especially, still too much reliance on novel textures and dramatic dynamics as ends in themselves and as coverups for inadequate thematic development and an insecure sense of melodic structure. Russo is more ambitious than Holman, judging from this LP anyway, and he certainly has much talent—as sections of all the numbers indicate, particularly Thisbe and Egdon Heath.

But Bill is still far from what the notes say his basic aim is—“more organic concepts of writing…working out something that is unified from beginning to end…” These works still have too much of that intensely fragmentary touch that tends to hover over the Kenton heath.

Holman writes with less range of mood or content than Russo, but within his more limited scope, he succeeds more often than Bill. One of his main aims, for example, is that “no matter how much is written down, the music should have all the feeling of improvisation. To do this, I try to avoid heavy masses of sound, and keep the music relaxed and full of movement, so individual soloists have as much chance as possible.”

Actually, Holman could still cut down even more on heavy blocks of sound, but there is generally a flowing quality to his writing and his scores do allow the band to swing more consistently than Russo’s (though I’m not sure that swinging in the pulsative sense is always Bill’s aim). Holman’s Theme and Variations, for example, is one of the rare cases where a Kenton band has swung in ensemble all the way. And the other works, too, give the soloists and the band room in which to move. It's too bad the compositions don’t have more to say as communications of imaginative ideas or basic feelings.

Good solo work throughout by the Kenton men. This was one of Stan's most rhythmically alive bands and they convey considerable zest in cutting through what in some cases must have been difficult scores with small time for rehearsal.

Especially noteworthy are Sam Noto, Davey Schildkraut, Candido, Frank Rosolino, Buddy Childers, Charlie Mariano, and Lee Konitz (In Lighter Vein). The recorded sound is good. Again Capitol and Kenton deserve congratulations for investing the time and money to record young writers like Russo and Holman. The investment is a good one, even if most of the initial results are either self-conscious or underdeveloped or both. (Capitol 12" LP W 524)

Barry Ulanov. "Record Review. Kenton Showcase (Holman and Russo)." Metronome. October 1954. 22-23.

Theme of Four Values
Study for Bass
Blues Before and After
Bacante
Thiebe
Egdon Heath
Sweets
Dusk
LP rating: B

Bags
Hav-a-Havana
Solo for Buddy
The Opener
Fearless Finlay
Theme and Variations
King Fish
LP rating: B

These two Kenton Showcase albums feature the compositions of Bill Russo (Values, etc.) and Bill Holman (Bags, etc.). Bill's pieces vary from vehicles for soloists (Theme for Bob Fitzpatrick's bone, Study for Don Bagley's bass, Bacante for Candy Candido's conga drumming) to straight forward jazz (Blues and Sweets), to ensemble and section sounds of an ear-catching nature (Thisbe, Egdon, Dusk). While all of these hold one's attention, it seems to me that Bill would be a more interesting composer if he were to introduce something like the jazz settings he gives soloists and sections in the first two groups into such reflective pieces as the last group.

The notable quality that the Holman scores have is a beat–most of the time; in Finlay, Theme and King, this Bill departs from the jazz groove smothly [sic] but not to any great effect. He is at his best providing Buddy Childer (Solo) with a trumpet line or Lee Konitz with an alto background (Vein), but even in the more pretentious trio singled out above, he shows a skill at scoring that deserves this
tribute. (Capitol LP's HS25/6)