STAN KENTON & HIS ORCHESTRA - Concerts in Miniature Part 20
Sound of Yester Year DSOY2072
Buddy Childers, Ernie Royal, Conte Candoli, Don Dennis, Don Smith (trumpets)
Bob Burgess, Frank Rosolino, Tom Shepard, Keith Moon, George Roberts (trombones)
Lee Konitz, Don Carone, Zoot Sims, Eddie Wasserman, Tony Ferina (saxophones)
Stan Kenton (piano) Sal Salvador (guitar) Don Bagley (bass) Stan Levey (drums) Chris Connor (vocal)
23rd June 1953 Cincinnati
30th June 1953 Ontario
7July 1953 Chicago
Stan Kenton was, and is, controversial. His music is often, with some justification, dismissed as tasteless, over-wrought and bombastic. Nevertheless, Kenton did lead, for a short time, a group that included some of the greatest players of the era. The 1953 band is as good as any band in jazz and that includes Basie, Ellington and Herman.
In 1953 Stan Kenton worked out a deal with the important radio group, NBC, that would mean his band would broadcast from where ever they were across the USA, every week. The title for the programmes would be ‘Concert in Miniature’. The series would eventually run for 150 programmes. Among the soloists with Kenton during that period were: Conte Candoli, Bill Perkins, Lee Konitz, Zoot Sims, Maynard Ferguson, Frank Rosolino, Lennie Niehaus, Richie Kamuca, and Bill Holman. Stan Levey and Frank Capp were often the drummers. Don Bagley and Curtis Counce were the bassists. The writers included Holman, Bill Russo, Pete Rugolo, Gerry Mulligan and Johnny Richards. The concerts are live broadcasts that originated in clubs, concert halls and dance halls from the Blue Note, Birdland, the Hollywood Palladium and the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. The archive is a unique collection of a working band at its best as it evolved.
This CD recorded in three locations has pieces from the band’s book and all the major soloists are featured. Lee Konitz plays throughout the three dates. On a Bill Russo piece called ‘My Lady’ Konitz enters unaccompanied, the guitar of Sal Salvador joins gradually and the orchestra swells behind Konitz. It is a sensitive composition and Konitz plays superbly. It is a tribute to both the soloist and to the writer, a small miniature piece of perfection.
Trombonist Frank Rosolino had an impressive technique and an ego to match: his playing re-defined west coast jazz playing. The piece ‘Frank Speaking’ shows the speed of his articulation and the triple tonguing coupled with a melodic imagination which makes him a very exciting soloist.
Zoot Sims who had just joined the band has a feature on ‘It’s the Talk of the Town’. As it is a Russo arrangement the trombone choir provides the back ground to Zoot’s fluid melodic musing. Kenton who was a little straight laced did not like the name Zoot and he refers to Sims as Jack!
Composer arranger Bill Russo supplied a great deal of the music at that period. Probably the most idiosyncratic composition is ‘23 degrees North; 82 degrees West’: that location is Cuba. The piece starts with the punchy trombones, pumping a staccato rhythm gradually joined by the drums of Stan Levey. The soloists are Lee Konitz and Rosolino. Stan Levey recorded with Charlie Parker’s small group and it is interesting to hear how well he adapts to swing a group as large as the Kenton Orchestra.
One other writer who was determining the character of the band was Bill Holman. Holman’s writing was light and swinging. Kenton worried that Holman would turn the band into a clone of Basie or Herman. However, the first tune of the CD is Holman’s ‘The Opener’ which is a contrapuntal piece that swings lightly and provides a basis for the improvisations of Rosolino, Sims, Konitz and Conte Candoli.
The other influential writer at that period was Gerry Mulligan. His fluent composition ‘Young Blood’ opens the Chicago concert. Like Holman, Mulligan could often make the larger group sound like a small group!
The recording quality of the concerts is not razor sharp high fidelity but as it was recorded by NBC in the early fifties it is more than acceptable.
The music that remains in the mind is the music crafted by Lee Konitz. Up to that time he had been seen as an esoteric disciple of Lennie Tristano. Persuading Konitz to join the orchestra was a coup for Kenton. The arrangements impose a discipline on Konitz and he has to blow assertively to combat the brass. His playing is concise and beautiful. However, there is a great deal else to admire in the three ‘concerts’.
The informative notes are supplied by Michael Sparke author of Kenton’s biography.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
Sound of Yester Year DSOY2072
Buddy Childers, Ernie Royal, Conte Candoli, Don Dennis, Don Smith (trumpets)
Bob Burgess, Frank Rosolino, Tom Shepard, Keith Moon, George Roberts (trombones)
Lee Konitz, Don Carone, Zoot Sims, Eddie Wasserman, Tony Ferina (saxophones)
Stan Kenton (piano) Sal Salvador (guitar) Don Bagley (bass) Stan Levey (drums) Chris Connor (vocal)
23rd June 1953 Cincinnati
30th June 1953 Ontario
7July 1953 Chicago
Stan Kenton was, and is, controversial. His music is often, with some justification, dismissed as tasteless, over-wrought and bombastic. Nevertheless, Kenton did lead, for a short time, a group that included some of the greatest players of the era. The 1953 band is as good as any band in jazz and that includes Basie, Ellington and Herman.
In 1953 Stan Kenton worked out a deal with the important radio group, NBC, that would mean his band would broadcast from where ever they were across the USA, every week. The title for the programmes would be ‘Concert in Miniature’. The series would eventually run for 150 programmes. Among the soloists with Kenton during that period were: Conte Candoli, Bill Perkins, Lee Konitz, Zoot Sims, Maynard Ferguson, Frank Rosolino, Lennie Niehaus, Richie Kamuca, and Bill Holman. Stan Levey and Frank Capp were often the drummers. Don Bagley and Curtis Counce were the bassists. The writers included Holman, Bill Russo, Pete Rugolo, Gerry Mulligan and Johnny Richards. The concerts are live broadcasts that originated in clubs, concert halls and dance halls from the Blue Note, Birdland, the Hollywood Palladium and the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. The archive is a unique collection of a working band at its best as it evolved.
This CD recorded in three locations has pieces from the band’s book and all the major soloists are featured. Lee Konitz plays throughout the three dates. On a Bill Russo piece called ‘My Lady’ Konitz enters unaccompanied, the guitar of Sal Salvador joins gradually and the orchestra swells behind Konitz. It is a sensitive composition and Konitz plays superbly. It is a tribute to both the soloist and to the writer, a small miniature piece of perfection.
Trombonist Frank Rosolino had an impressive technique and an ego to match: his playing re-defined west coast jazz playing. The piece ‘Frank Speaking’ shows the speed of his articulation and the triple tonguing coupled with a melodic imagination which makes him a very exciting soloist.
Zoot Sims who had just joined the band has a feature on ‘It’s the Talk of the Town’. As it is a Russo arrangement the trombone choir provides the back ground to Zoot’s fluid melodic musing. Kenton who was a little straight laced did not like the name Zoot and he refers to Sims as Jack!
Composer arranger Bill Russo supplied a great deal of the music at that period. Probably the most idiosyncratic composition is ‘23 degrees North; 82 degrees West’: that location is Cuba. The piece starts with the punchy trombones, pumping a staccato rhythm gradually joined by the drums of Stan Levey. The soloists are Lee Konitz and Rosolino. Stan Levey recorded with Charlie Parker’s small group and it is interesting to hear how well he adapts to swing a group as large as the Kenton Orchestra.
One other writer who was determining the character of the band was Bill Holman. Holman’s writing was light and swinging. Kenton worried that Holman would turn the band into a clone of Basie or Herman. However, the first tune of the CD is Holman’s ‘The Opener’ which is a contrapuntal piece that swings lightly and provides a basis for the improvisations of Rosolino, Sims, Konitz and Conte Candoli.
The other influential writer at that period was Gerry Mulligan. His fluent composition ‘Young Blood’ opens the Chicago concert. Like Holman, Mulligan could often make the larger group sound like a small group!
The recording quality of the concerts is not razor sharp high fidelity but as it was recorded by NBC in the early fifties it is more than acceptable.
The music that remains in the mind is the music crafted by Lee Konitz. Up to that time he had been seen as an esoteric disciple of Lennie Tristano. Persuading Konitz to join the orchestra was a coup for Kenton. The arrangements impose a discipline on Konitz and he has to blow assertively to combat the brass. His playing is concise and beautiful. However, there is a great deal else to admire in the three ‘concerts’.
The informative notes are supplied by Michael Sparke author of Kenton’s biography.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
