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Stan Kenton: A Kenton Trilogy, Part 2 / The Sound of Jazz
by Jack Bowers
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 by the orchestra appearing on what seems to be a fairly regular basis. In this case, the album is divided roughly into four parts, ...
Continue ReadingBastards under the Mistletoe
by Patrick Burnette
The holidays and jazz go together like milk and cookies left out for Santa. You're not sure if they're going to be taken or will still be there getting warm in the morning, but it's the spirit of the thing that matters. In this very special episode, the boys look at various holiday jazz offerings (three by individual artists, one compilation, one attempt to “jazz" the liturgy and a brand new entry in the jazz Christmas sweepstakes from newcomers and ...
Continue ReadingStan Kenton and His Orchestra: Jazz Journey
by Jack Bowers
For those who thought that reissues of albums by the Stan Kenton Orchestra had faded away as the well ran dry, think again: from Sounds of Yesteryear comes a welcome and invigorating Jazz Journey, traversing half a dozen concerts by the superb Kenton Orchestra that consist for the most part of unissued material from the years 1953-60, more than half of it recorded by famed engineer Wally Heider. As author and Kenton scholar Michael Sparke observes in ...
Continue ReadingStan Kenton Orchestra: Mellophonium Memoirs
by Jack Bowers
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 and those who did not--were, to say the least, more ambivalent about the instrument's eccentricities and unwillingness to remain in tune. In the end, ...
Continue ReadingMarcello Piras: Dentro le note.
by Maurizio Zerbo
Dentro le note -Il Jazz al microscopio Marcello piras Arcana 240 pp. Almeno due generazioni di musicisti, giornalisti e jazzofili devono a Marcello Piras l'iniziazione ai sacri misteri dell'estetica jazzistica. L'acutezza delle sue geniali considerazioni informa anche questo saggio, destinato ad essere testo imprescindibile per quanti hanno a cuore la morfologia e la storia del jazz. Articolato in quaranta analisi di altrettanti capolavori della musica afroamericana del '900, “Dentro le note" ha il raro ...
Continue ReadingStan Kenton: Road Shows
by Jack Bowers
For younger readers: yes, there was a time long ago when large groups of talented jazz musicians traveled without respite from city to city and town to town, braving one-night stands or more night after night in (mostly) sold-out concert halls, dance halls, pavilions, nightclubs, schools and other venues. They were known as big bands, so enormously popular that they even had their own “era," and the world may never see their like again, at least not on the road. ...
Continue ReadingDid Stan Kenton Swing? You Bet Your Walkin' Shoes He Did...
by Jack Bowers
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 have been loath to admit it--Kenton's series of orchestras swung as hard as anyone, even Basie, Herman or Rich. For assurance, one need look ...
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