Stan Kenton: Any Fans Here?

[Rudy]

I randomly grabbed a CD out of my pile a few weeks ago that I haven't played in quite awhile: "Kenton in Hi-Fi". Must have been something in the water, since it finally clicked with me and it's been in constant rotation since then. I'm now trying to find the stereo LP version of it (got a lead on one ), and have picked up a few more titles in addition to the few I already had.

So far I have the following:

Kenton in Hi-Fi (CD...not the best mastering, and it's mostly mono)
Kenton in Hi-Fi (LP, mono--the stereo version lacks "Southern Scandal" )
Artistry in Bossa Nova (mono LP)
Viva Kenton (stereo LP)
Adventures In Blues (stereo LP)
Adventures in Jazz (CD)
Artistry in Rhythm (mono LP, early recordings)

Want list:

Kenton in Hi-Fi (stereo LP)
Artistry in Bossa Nova (stereo LP)
Adventures in Time (stereo LP)
Cuban Fire (stereo LP if avail.)
New Concepts Of Artistry In Rhythm (sp?)

Anything else I might be missing out on? There are literally dozens of LPs, and I prefer the sound of the recordings in stereo, which would mean they were recorded 1956 or after (which is when Capitol studios began recording in 3-track).

 

[DAN BOLTON]

My first taste of Kenton came from Don Ellis. When Hank Levy was doing all those unusual time signature charts for Ellis, I heard someplace that Stan gave Hank his first break, so, I wanted to hear some of his earlier stuff, and LIVE AT REDLANDS UNIVERSITY was a good place to hear it. One of my friends had the album at school, so we listened to it during jazz ensemble rehearsal breaks. I had all the Ellis stuff, UNDERGROUND, LIVE AT FILLMORE, CONNECTION...and we wore those albums out! Woody Herman's LIGHT MY FIRE got a lot of play, too. Makes me homesick for a Rheems Califone...just kidding...the fidelity was so bad, I brought in my RCA ORTHOPHONIC HIGH FIDELITY record player.

LIVE AT REDLANDS is the only Kenton album I'm really familiar with...there is some really good stuiff there if you like "experimental" jazz...lots of complex time signatures...some standouts, TERRY TALK[a tribute to Clark Terry], BON HOMME RICHARD[featurng the trombone player...not Rick Stepton, but I forget the name...], and Hank's tune, CHIAPAS[ withsome very interesting time signatures...]

We used a DIck Eberhart chart of BON HOMME RICHARD as a jazz festival entry in 1971...I played my Gibson SG guitar...

If you like experimental jazz, this is a good album, if all the liner notes are still included with the package...Stan did a lot of talking before each piece, and it was good stuff...the performance was the climax of a jazz clinic...



Dan, thinking that the album is still available...I saw it someplace not long ago, wasn't Amazon, might have been Tower...

 

[jimac51]

Everything about Kenton SHOULD appeal to me. Maynard Ferguson was an early fave;Gerald Wilson's Pacific Jazz recordings are a Mosaic must-have;Mel Lewis's work with Thad or otherwise;I love Don Ellis,too;I'm a sucker for the use of French hords in a big band-in fact,Kenton is one of those "six degrees of separation" for much of my collection. And yet,after forty years of big band appreciation-that spark has never happened within me. It just escapes me. I remember Kenton fans coming into me CD store during the '90s looking for Stan's material(some of these guys seemed to have every Creative World LP(a small record club would be needed to keep up with vinyl recordings) but,outside of Maynard,rarely wanted to stray away from Kenton. Part of the love of music in my life has been where one artist leads me towards the next(I've often stated that Herb's work opened the doors to a world I will never leave) but these guys always seemed at a dead end. There was nobody to replace their Stan. Funny that a music so well recorded and full of freedom(Stan's company was named Creative World with good reason)should almost stagnate growth-just an observation. I could understand a person getting lost in Ellington forever(in my next life,I will start listening to Ellington and no one else)but that never happened in my store. Sorry I can't help out,but I would say that sticking to stereo recordings ONLY seems that you are going to miss out on what appears to be some important goodies(the PORTRAITS and SKETCHES ON STANDARDS available on BlueNote come to mind). Mac-waiting for that Kenton click and wondering if it will ever happen...

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Want list:

Kenton in Hi-Fi (stereo LP)
Artistry in Bossa Nova (stereo LP)
Adventures in Time (stereo LP)
Cuban Fire (stereo LP if avail.)
New Concepts Of Artistry In Rhythm (sp?)

Anything else I might be missing out on?

I have the Cuban Fire! LP, plus the Adventures In Jazz LP. Other Kenton LPs I have are Duophonic, West Side Story (a neat album), Fire, Fury and Fun (a very hip album, with a long-haired Peter Erskine and sax wiz Tony Campise with this "Hog Fat Blues"!), Hits In Concert and 7.5 On The Richter Scale. I also have a CD of two of the Kenton Showcases: The Music of Bill Russo and The Music of Bill Holman. This has a lot of Frank Rosolino!!!

When I was in high school we did Kenton's version (actually a Dee Barton arrangement) of "MacArthur Park" (from Hits In Concert). We even got to sing a part of it - not necessarily a good thing. When I was at Ball State we did an entire program of Kenton material. That was a very "heavy" concert. I don't think the audience dug the whole thing, but there were some good moments. We even dug up some mellophoniums for this event. I tried playing one, but just couldn't get a good sound.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Rudy]

We even dug up some mellophoniums for this event. I tried playing one, but just couldn't get a good sound.

...and according to Kenton's other band members, neither could Kenton's own mellophonium section!

http://home.comcast.net/~noel_wedder/wsb/mellophonium.htm

I've managed to get a few more Kenton albums under my belt now. I found the copies of Cuban Fire, New Concepts of Artistry In Rhythm and Adventures In Time on cassette that someone had made me. I also found a Capitol mono LP called Artistry in Rhythm which seems to be like a compilation of earlier tracks. (And oddly, the song "Artistry in Rhythm" is nowhere to be found on this LP.)

I found a stereo Kenton in Hi-Fi, but unfortunately it wasn't played on the best of equipment and has some groove wear. Not only that, it was a very early Capitol stereo recording and doesn't sound all that good (but, I did expect that going in). A friend in California sent me a 2-LP live set from 1974 on the London label. And I also bought Standards in Silhouette.

Oh, and I've had West Side Story on reel to reel, but unfortunately I need to splice a leader onto it before I can play it.

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

OK, then, as someone who should know a lot about Kenton but doesn't, if I were going to buy one CD of his, compilation or original,- what should it be?

 

[Rudy]

Ouch...good question! I see a few Kenton best-of CDs and sets on Amazon, but unfortunately someone like myself who's just getting into Kenton might have trouble choosing one that has good (or better yet, definitive) performances of these tracks.

I personally like the "Kenton in Hi-Fi" album, which is on CD, as it has a good cross-section of his most famous charts. However, these are all re-recordings of songs he had recorded earlier, and some true blue Kenton-o-philes don't care for it. These songs are actually rerecordings of charts recorded in the post-war period (mid to late 40s); in the 50s it was common to re-record older songs for the "new, improved" sound of high fidelity.

I would guess that if you've listened to any big band music over the years, you may actually recognize a few of these songs.

The CD is so-so sonically--Capitol chose to use the mono masters instead of the stereo, which isn't necessarily a bad thing here. (The stereo version is a bit smeared and unfocused--I can hear the brass sections better, but the upright bass is nearly buried, for instance...and it's buried under a lot of Capitol reverb as well.) Still, there's some good playing on this one, the rhythm section is tight (Mel Lewis on drums here), and Maynard Ferguson is also featured in the trumpet section.

One album that is well regarded is New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm. It has a prologue that features Kenton introducing the band, with some brief solo segments of the various players on it (including Lee Konitz, Frank Rosolino, Maynard Ferguson, Conte Candoli, Stan Levy and many others). Some say it's one of his more melodic recordings.

I'd recommend Adventures In Time which explored other time signatures, but the CD has been out of print for a few years now. A lot of his later albums were more concept-based--he did an Artistry In Bossa Nova album, Cuban Fire, Viva Kenton (Latin themed), Adventures in Blues, and many others like that. I'm trying to find my Adventures In Jazz CD--as I recall, it was also a good one, and featured the TJB's Pat Senatore on bass.

You may want to listen to a few of the sound samples over at Amazon and see if any of these spark anything. The CDs fortunately won't break the bank--they seem to sell for around $12 on Amazon (which is about list price).

Anyone else recommend anything? Feel free to add some thoughts here.

 

[jimac51]

One way to start exploring an artist rich in catalog is by listening to their take on known tunes. Like what they do with a chesnut?-you'll possibly like their original material as well.(One Kenton album I DO like for personal reasons is Stan's FINIAN'S RAINBOW album of the late 1960s-not a critical fave) EMI has both SKETCHES ON STANDARDS and PORTRAITS ON STANDARDS in print and there are lots of reviews at Amazon on both albums that show that many seem to like what is inside(with those kind of informal personal reviews-the more the merrier- the superfan and the dissenter will be met with some contrast) and they are both midpriced albums. The British Proper label has a four disc set of Kenton's 1940s material(Proper does lots of public domain material)-94 tracks,a decent size booklet,jewel cases in a slip box-all for twenty bucks-such a deal! Mac

 

[Rudy]

One I wouldn't recommend as a starting point (if it's in print) is "Standards in Silhouette". It is more of a laid-back bluesy take on standards. Not a bad recording, but doesn't have the same spark other recordings do. I might even call it a "late night" album.