Was there ever a big band with a more colossal sound than Stan Kenton's?
The pianist piled on mountains of brass and woodwinds that devastated appreciative listeners, and many of those fans who were of college age when his orchestra ruled campuses in the '50s remain in awe of the group's prowess nearly three decades after his death.
And though Kenton's name probably isn't often mentioned in the same hushed tones as Ellington's or Basie's, his group was enormously popular in its day. So much so that saxophonist Lynn Baker is presenting some of the music associated with Kenton at Sedalia's Cherokee Ranch and Castle on Saturday.
“He was the first guy to bring big-band jazz to the university campus. His tremendous contribution was to jazz education, and it still holds a lot of respect," said Baker, who retains his own degree of respect as the director of jazz studies at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music.
Baker has chosen to focus on Kenton's mid-'50s groups, when the bandleader was releasing then-hit and now-cult favorite albums like “Kenton in Hi-Fi" and “Cuban Fire!" -- the kind of records that undoubtedly blew out many a woofer at the time.
The pianist piled on mountains of brass and woodwinds that devastated appreciative listeners, and many of those fans who were of college age when his orchestra ruled campuses in the '50s remain in awe of the group's prowess nearly three decades after his death.
And though Kenton's name probably isn't often mentioned in the same hushed tones as Ellington's or Basie's, his group was enormously popular in its day. So much so that saxophonist Lynn Baker is presenting some of the music associated with Kenton at Sedalia's Cherokee Ranch and Castle on Saturday.
“He was the first guy to bring big-band jazz to the university campus. His tremendous contribution was to jazz education, and it still holds a lot of respect," said Baker, who retains his own degree of respect as the director of jazz studies at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music.
Baker has chosen to focus on Kenton's mid-'50s groups, when the bandleader was releasing then-hit and now-cult favorite albums like “Kenton in Hi-Fi" and “Cuban Fire!" -- the kind of records that undoubtedly blew out many a woofer at the time.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
