Los Angeles' pianist Stan Kenton (1912), also a gifted composer
(Suite For Saxophones from september 1941), became one of the
all-time specialists of big bands.
His first Orchestra (featuring saxophonist Art Pepper, except in 1944-46) recorded his
Artistry in Rhythm (november 1943), their first hit,
Eager Beaver (november 1943),
Harlem Folk Dance (november 1943),
Painted Rhythm (october 1945),
Buddy Baker's And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine (may 1944), another hit,
Opus In Pastels (may 1945), one of the most intriguing compositions,
and Gene Roland's Tampico (may 1945), another hit.
After the war, Kenton recruited Italian composer Pete Rugolo (1945),
who became the orchestra's main arranger,
and Danish trombonist Kai Winding (1946): the two were instrumental in crafting
the orchestra's "modern" sound, especially since Kenton seemed more interested
in format than in style.
By 1947 Kenton's Progressive Jazz Orchestra had a brass section of five trumpets
and five trombones (and Shelly Manne on drums), and the material had expanded to include
Kenton's Concerto To End All Concertos (july 1946),
Kenton's "hollywoodish" Theme To The West (september 1947),
Kenton's Reed Rapture (july 1946), originally a 1942 three-minute film for a visual juke box,
and
Bob Graettinger's Thermopolae (december 1947).
Rugolo, a consummate composer, was the real hero of Kenton's "progressive"
approach.
In 1947 he provided a counterweight to Kenton's bombastic musical ego with
a set of impressionistic vignettes, notable for their
minimalist architectures (Impressionism of october, Monotony of march, Abstraction of september), poetic abandon (Interlude of march, Collaboration of february, Lament of october),
and sheer ingenuity (Chorale For Piano, Brass And Bongos of september,
Fugue For Rhythm Section of september).
Despite being rather subdued compared with Kenton's favorite material,
these were extremely powerful pieces of music, boasting a psychological as
well as sonic intensity that was more typical of classical than jazz music.
After a hiatus of a few years, in 1950 Kenton organized an even bigger band,
the 40-piece Innovations In Modern Music Orchestra, replete with a 16-piece
string section and a horn section (but notable soloists were trumpeter
Maynard Ferguson and saxophonist Clifford "Bud" Shank).
Innovations In Modern Music Orchestra (january 1950) was a kaleidoscope of
orchestral inventions:
Kenton's Theme For Sunday,
Rugolo's tone poem Conflict,
Rugolo's five-minute mini-concerto Mirage,
Johnny Richards' Soliloquy,
Laurindo Almeida's Amazonia,
Bob Graettinger's Incident in Jazz,
trombonist Bill Russo's sentimental Solitaire
and two gems by Franklyn Marks, Trajectories and Evening In Pakistan.
Presents added
Russo's Halls Of Brass (october 1951),
Kenton's Shelly Manne (october 1951) for a 40-piece ensemble (19 horns, 17 strings and jazz quintet of piano, guitar, two basses, drums),
arranged by Pete Rugolo, Shorty Rogers, Franklyn Marks, Manny Albam, Bob Graettinger and Gene Roland,
Graettinger's House of Strings (august 1950) for ten violins, three violas and three cellos.
June Christy (august 1950) was an experiment of free-form improvised wordless vocals:
vocalist June Christy accompanied by an eight-piece rhythm section.
Kenton's strings were almost an insult to the "sweet" string orchestras of the
time: they sounded like an army of aliens.
Kenton's ambitions were matched by Bob Graettinger, who composed for him
the six-movement suite This Modern World (may 1953),
and the four-movement expressionist, dissonant suite City Of Glass (1948), that, greatly revised,
became the source for Kenton's album City of Glass (november 1951).
Shorty Rogers contributed to the arrangements.
Kenton's New Concepts Of Artistry In Rhythm Orchestra of 1952, that recorded
New Concepts Of Artistry In Rhythm Orchestra (september 1952) and
Kenton Showcase (march 1954), mostly devoted to compositions by Bill Russo and Bill Holman,
was a smaller entity
that featured saxophonists Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, Bill Holman and Zoot Sims. Mulligan and Holman soon became the
main composers. The artistic peak of this band was probably
Holman's Invention for Guitar and Trumpet on the first album.
Mel Lewis' drumming from 1954 on bestowed a harder edge on the music,
as documented on Contemporary Concepts (july 1955).
Cuban Fire (may 1956) was an album of Latin standards, including the hit
Peanut Vendor (1956), a reworking of a Cuban song,
and Johnny Richards originals.
Rugolo's and Kenton's next highbrow project was a string-heavy orchestra that
released Lush Interlude (july 1958) and The Kenton Touch (december 1958).
In 1960 Kenton turned to the Mellophonium Orchestra, featuring
four mellophoniums, and opted for the romantic ballad. Their best album was
Adventures in Jazz (july 1961), that contained
Dee Barton's Waltz Of The Prophets,
Ernesto Lecuona's Malaguena,
and
Bill Holman's Stairway To The Stars.
Adventures in Time (september 1962) was actually Johnny Richards' concerto for
orchestra, notable for the insistence on odd time signatures.
The Los Angeles Neophonic Orchestra of 1965, instead,
specialized in "third stream" repertory.
Conducts the Los Angeles Neophonic (january 1965) was highlighted by
Russ Garcia's five-movement suite Adventure in Emotion
and by Clare Fischer's Piece for Soft Brass, Woodwinds and Percussion.
Kenton's last creation, the Creative World Orchestra, was immortalized on Live at Redlands (october 1970).
Throughout his career Stan Kenton seemed to be schizophrenically split in
three personalities: the pop charmer, the jazz stylist and the avantgarde
experimentalist.
Kenton died in 1979.
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