Results for "Ray Starling"

Ray Starling

Born: January 4, 1933

Stan Kenton: Salute!

by Jack Bowers
February 16, 2023

Stan Kenton, one of the most renowned and influential bandleaders of the twentieth century, died on August 25, 1979. Fortunately—for the sake of history in general and creative music in particular—Kenton's remarkable legacy lives on, and in a perceptive and open-minded world would endure forever. Even to this day, small but devoted groups of enthusiasts share ...

Stan Kenton: A Kenton Trilogy, Part 2 / The Sound of Jazz

by Jack Bowers
January 13, 2020

The Sound of Jazz by the legendary Stan Kenton Orchestra follows Part 1 of a Kenton Trilogy, Dance Time, and hopefully precedes a third component yet to be named. Although Kenton has been gone for more than forty years (he died in August 1979), he has hardly been forgotten, with reissues of concert and studio sessions ...

Stan Kenton Orchestra: Mellophonium Memoirs

by Jack Bowers
December 8, 2017

Among bandleader Stan Kenton's many ensembles, surely none has given rise to as many differences of opinion--pro and con--as the Mellophonium Orchestra of the early 1960s. Audiences generally loved the warm and inviting sound of the mellophonium, residing in a nether region between trumpet and trombone; musicians, on the other hand--both those who played the mellophonium ...

Buddy Rich: The Beat Goes On

by Jack Bowers
June 11, 2014

Was Buddy Rich really “the world's greatest drummer"? The answer to that speculative question is debatable, of course, and opinions may vary, as they no doubt do on what kind of a person (or persons) he was when not weaving his particular brand of magic behind a drum kit. Buddy's remarkable talents as a drummer and ...

Did Stan Kenton Swing? You Bet Your Walkin' Shoes He Did...

by Jack Bowers
November 16, 2012

I've been listening to a lot of Stan Kenton's music recently while coming to grips with the age-old question, did the Kenton orchestra really swing? The answer, to me, is a no-brainer: Yes, Kenton swung. Liberally and often. [Note: This of course depends on how “swinging" is defined; opinions may vary]. In his own way--although he'd ...

Stan Kenton-UW Eau Claire / Kirk MacDonald Orchestra / Kansas City Jazz Orchestra

by Jack Bowers
April 5, 2012

Stan Kenton Orchestra/UW-Eau Claire Jazz Ensemble 1Double Feature, Vol. 3Tantara Productions2012 Volume 3 in Tantara's ongoing two-CD series of Double Features, encompassing heretofore unissued music by the Stan Kenton Orchestra and guests, covers parts of five Kenton concerts spanning the years 1971-77 on Disc 1, and presents ...

Alternate Routes

By Ray Starling

Label: Tantara
Released: 2002
Track listing: Starling

Ray Starling's NY Soundstage Orchestra / Joel Kaye's NY Neophonic Orchestra: Alternate Routes

by Jack Bowers
December 1, 2002

It was Stan Kenton who coined the term “neophonic” to describe the music created by his adventurous L.A.–based orchestra in the mid-’60s. He also introduced the mellophonium as part of a Jazz orchestra. This exhilarating two-disc set deftly employs and amplifies Kenton's groundbreaking concepts in splendid recordings made by two of his former sidemen, Ray Starling ...