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​STAN KENTON & HIS ORCHESTRA  - Concerts in Miniature Part 21
 
Sounds of Yester Year DSOY2080
 
Stan Kenton & his Orchestra with personnel including Conte Candoli ( tpt ) Buddy Childers ( tpt ) Frank Rosolino ( tmb ) Lee Konitz 9 alto ) Zoot Sims ( tnr ) Stan Kenton ( pno ) Don Bagley ( bass ) Stan Levey ( drs )
Tracks 1 to 9
Topper Club, Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio, 14 July 1953
Tracks 10 to 16
The Casino, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, 21 July 1953
Tracks 17 to 25
Lincoln Park Ballroom, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, 28 July 1953
 
I have reviewed parts 19 and 22 of these Concerts in Miniature recordings in previous editions of Jazz Views and much of those remarks are valid for part 21. These recordings are from 1953 as was the previous two CDs and the personnel is unchanged . This was one of Stan’s finest bands which actually swung which Stan was not too keen on but the musicians in the band loved to play these arrangements  and the enthusiasm is apparent in these recordings.
Just a few numbers are duplicated from the previous two CDs but there is enough new material to warrant adding this one to your collection. The three Gerry Mulligan composition are always worth a listen, “Limelight”,  Walkimg Shoes” and “Young Blood” which has exciting solos by Conte Candoli, Zoot Sims and Lee Konitz.

Zoot Sims has own feature with Bill Holman’s “Zoot” and as usual is in swinging form. Bill Holman’s “Theme and Variations” is also given an outing and never fails to impress.
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These recordings are a document of a former era which we are never likely to see again and many people many consider nostalgia but is still relevant today as the building blocks of modern big band music.
 
Reviewed by Roy Booth

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ECM celebrates 50 years of music production with the Touchstones series of re-issues