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Stan Kenton and His Orchestra: Concert on the Pacific
by Jack Bowers
The Stan Kenton Orchestra's Concert on the Pacific is actually a compendium of several concerts recorded between January and March 1958 at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, California—a series that almost emptied Kenton's wallet and caused him to pause and regroup a year or so later. While this was post-Rosolino/Sims/Konitz/Levey, the Kenton Orchestra was never without its share of outstanding soloists, in this case saxophonists Lennie Niehaus, Bill Perkins, Richie Kamuca and Bill Robinson; trumpeters Sam Noto, Billy Catalano and ...
read moreStan Kenton and His Orchestra: In a Lighter Vein
by Jack Bowers
Stan Kenton was a man of many moods, as was his intrepid and popular orchestra, which endured until his passing in August 1979 and whose renown is kept alive even today by the Stan Kenton Legacy Orchestra. Kenton dons his carefree hat on In a Lighter Vein, an assortment of straight-ahead themes from the orchestra's jazz library, preserved in five concert performances from 1953-55 beneath the umbrella of NBC radio's All Star Parade of Bands. Original compositions ...
read moreStan Kenton and His Orchestra: Concert Kenton
by Jack Bowers
There's no question that Stan Kenton led one of the more successful and popular orchestras of the storied Big Band Era, winning various yearly polls while drawing large crowds to his jazz concerts and dance performances from coast to coast. But Kenton always wanted something more: to enlighten as well as entertain. Music, he felt, should be cerebral as well as visceral. And so he formed the Neophonic Orchestra to play the sort of forward-looking jazz he felt many listeners ...
read moreBill Perkins/Cy Touff (Pacific Jazz/West Coast Classics: The Bill Perkins Octet: On Stage/Cy Touff: His Octet and Quintet
by C. Michael Bailey
When I was a Wee Lad. The first jazz recording I bought was Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. I was 13 or 14 years old and was starting to listen to other than the current popular music of the day. That was 1973. I did not listen to another jazz recording until 10 years later. I was having an eye examination and my ophthalmologist, an alto player, and I started a conversation about jazz. He told me if I was ...
read moreBill Perkins / Jack Sheldon: On Stage / The Quartet and The Quintet
by John Sharpe
The California jazz scene reached its zenith in the 50's and 60's and Richard Bock's Pacific Jazz label managed to capture most of the music from this “cool school". Artists such as Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Art Pepper and Bud Shank all recorded for Pacific Jazz and they emerged as West Coast masters. Bill Perkins (tenor) and Jack Sheldon (trumpet/vocals) were two artists who enjoyed brief, but rewarding stints with the label. Perkins went on to pursue a career in ...
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