Jazz Articles about Stan Kenton

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Stan Kenton: Artistry in Rhythm - Portrait Of A Jazz Legend

by Jack Bowers
April 4, 2011

Stan KentonArtistry In Rhythm: Portrait Of A Jazz LegendJazzed Media2011 “I thought that [Stan] was an echo of life itself: that life is precious, life is exquisite, and life is magnificent. He lived it, and his legacy points to some of those values. Whether we are able to interpret them or not, they are there." That's noted jazz historian, educator and author Dr. Herb Wong, having (almost) the last word on ...

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Salute to Stan Kenton: Artistry in Contrast

by Jack Bowers
November 9, 2009

Artistry in Rhythm, the Ken Poston / Los Angeles Jazz Institute's 2009 homage to the renowned bandleader Stan Kenton, was held October 8-11 at the Sheraton LAX Four Points Hotel. As always, there was much to see, hear and admire: films, panel discussions, special presentations and, last but not least, no fewer than nineteen concerts by groups large and small including four lunchtime events at the Sheraton's outdoor swimming pool. A number of Kenton alumni were there, almost all of ...

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Stan Kenton: Cool Hot & Swingin'

by Jack Bowers
July 18, 2007

Cool Hot & Swingin', the seventh in an ongoing series of Stan Kenton treasures unearthed by Bill Lichtenauer's ever-resourceful Tantara Productions, recaps a splendid concert performance in February 1956 at the Civic Auditorium in San Bernardino, CA.

This was a time when Kenton had pared the trombone and reed sections to four members each and added two French horns and a tuba, a departure that lasted about a year. It was also a time when the great Bill Holman, with ...

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Stan Kenton: Sophisticated Approach

by Edward Blanco
July 10, 2006

Sophisticated Approach is a reissue of eighteen iconic ballad arrangements by Stan Kenton, originally recorded in 1961 with his unique and controversial four-piece mellophonium horn section. The ballroom circuit was the life-blood of the Kenton Mellophonium Orchestra in the late '50s and early '60s, and this album, arranged by Lennie Niehaus, was intended as an addition to the dance library, which was to contain plenty of up-tempo tunes. After recording two beautiful slow pieces, however, the producers pushed for an ...

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Stan Kenton: Sophisticated Approach

by Chris May
May 18, 2006

The Donald Rumsfeld of American big band jazz in the 1940s and 1950s, Stan Kenton didn't so much embrace his audiences as shock-n-awe them into submission with relentless carpet bombing. Kenton's monstrous orchestras--the most overblown being the 43-piece Innovations In Modern Music outfit of the early 1950s--specialised in heavy-footed, portentous, screaming brass performances which left zero space for light and shade, spontaneous improvisation or loose rhythmic swing. True to its era, Kenton's music was something from which to duck and ...

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Stan Kenton: Back to Balboa

by Mitchell Seidel
April 24, 2004

By 1957, the Big Band Era was pretty well over. Fortunately pianist Stan Kenton never got the message. In fact, he continued to tour with various aggregations well into the ‘70s, ultimately laying the groundwork for modern jazz education with school performances and clinics. While the handwriting may have been on the wall in the late ‘50s, there was still a large segment of the listening public that, having grown up on big bands, still loved the sound ...

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The Stan Kenton Legacy

by AAJ Staff
February 29, 2004

Submitted on behalf of George Harris

Before there were Dead Heads, Trekkies and even Beatlemaniacs, there were Kentonites. It’s difficult to believe that people like your father or uncle could have such unadulterated devotion to a leader, a band and an attitude about music, but it’s true. Sixty years ago, Stan Kenton put the musical world on notice that he was going to add his signature sound to American popular music, and pop/jazz fans have been rabidly divided on his ...