Stan Kenton: Sketches on Standards

Like Portraits on Standards, which was released earlier by Capitol / Blue Note, Sketches is by and large an eleborate showcase for several of the wonderful soloists who earned their reputations with Stan Kenton’s pace–setting orchestra in the early ’50s when these recordings were made. As on Portraits, most of the arrangements are by Bill (now William) Russo or Stan himself, in this case seven by Russo, three by Kenton, two by Joe Coccia (“Spring Is Here,” “I’m Glad There Is You”) and one each by Lennie Niehaus (“Pennies from Heaven”) and Johnny Richards (“Stella by Starlight”). The soloists, each of whom is sublime (even in then–state–of–the–art monaural sound), include trumpeters Conte Candoli, Maynard Ferguson, Buddy Childers and Sam Noto; trombonists Frank Rosolino and Bobby Burgess; alto saxophonists Niehaus and Lee Konitz; tenors Bill Holman, Richie Kamuca and Bill Perkins; bass trombonist George Roberts, guitarist Sal Salvador, and the leader on piano. There are splendid star turns for Konitz (“Lover Man”), Candoli (“Pennies”), Burgess (“Over the Rainbow”), Rosolino (“Malagueña”) and Niehaus (“I’m Glad There Is You”) and two wholly instrumental numbers, Kenton’s arrangements of “Begin the Beguine” and “Dark Eyes.” One can’t help noticing that, unlike many of today’s inseparable clones, Kenton’s soloists — most of them, anyway — are almost instantly identifiable. No one, for example, would mistake Konitz, Candoli, Rosolino or Kamuca for anyone else, and their resourceful improvisations sound as fresh today as they did half a century ago. Of those spotlighted on Sketches, Konitz, Perkins, Childers, Ferguson, Russo, Holman and Niehaus remain active (the last three essentially as composer / arrangers); the others — including Stan, who died in August 1979 — are no longer with us. Sketches provides a fairly candid thumbnail impression of their peerless artistry, smudged only by its forty–two minute playing time.

Contact: Capitol Records, 1750 N. Vine St., Los Angeles, CA 90028. Web site, www.bluenote.com