Kyo Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 I've become interested in some of Stan Kenton's music (I'm currently reading Ted Gioia's West Coast Jazz) and I wonder how this music has been released on CD - I know there were at least two Mosaic sets and a bunch of Capitol compilations of various sorts (City of Glass, The Innovations Orchestra...), but I guess there must be some overlap there. So which discs / sets should I be looking at? One thing to keep in mind: I don't mind difficult music as long as it's rewarding, so I'm not really looking for an "easy introduction" greatest hits package - in fact the one CD of Bob Graettinger tunes sounds very interesting to me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 'The Innovations Orchestra' 2CD is a really good place to start, if you can find that one (doubletime twofer). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dprfish Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 (edited) "City of Glass" (the Graettinger album) is a must. Also, "Easy Go," a compilation of early '50s sides, has some wonderful Art Pepper and Conte Candoli playing on great Gene Roland and Bill Russo charts. As for the '40s stuff, I'd say the Classics CDs are the way to go, with IMO better sound than the Mosaic. I wouldn't worry about missing out on the alternates - they don't add much to the picture. Edited February 24, 2008 by Dave Fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 My favorite Kenton stuff involves either Pete Rugulo or Johnny Richards as arranger. "Cuban Fire" from 1956 is a terrific album. Slightly after your time frame, but both very worthwhile, are "West Side Story" and "Adventures in Time." (both very early 1960s). All of these were written and/or arranged by Johnny Richards. The Rugolo era is more 1940s and predates the LP era, AFAIK. That stuff you'd have to find on compilations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 (edited) I particularly like the Kenton Orchestras of 1954-55 with arrangements by Bill Holman and star-studded personnel including Sam Noto, Stu Williamson, Buddy Childers, Frank Rosolino, Carl Fontana, Lennie Niehaus, Charlie Mariano, Davey Schildkraut, Bill Perkins, Mel Lewis and Stan Levey. There's a lot of this material on two Contemporary albums: Kenton Showcase and Contemporary Concepts. If you already like Art Pepper, a good way into Kenton is via Those Kenton Days (Definitive). Edited February 14, 2008 by BillF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted February 15, 2008 Report Share Posted February 15, 2008 If I had to dump most of my Kentons, I'd keep the following Capitol cds: The Innovations Orchestra City of Glass Easy Go Contemporary Concepts Kenton Showcase If the bug digs deeper, keep going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stereojack Posted February 15, 2008 Report Share Posted February 15, 2008 I've always been partial to: New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm Contemporary Concepts Cuban Fire Adventures In Jazz Kenton has always taken a beating from the critics and historians, but I think he's an important figure who made lots of worthwhile music, especially in the 40's & 50's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted February 15, 2008 Report Share Posted February 15, 2008 (edited) Another specialty that warrants exploring are the live recordings from Stan Kenton's European tour of 1953. Decent fidelity, great band with an enormous punch that even today gets the impression pretty well across that it left on European audiences back then. And as the Kenton band toured EXTENSIVELY all across Germany during that tour in August/September 1953 this is even part of our very own history of jazz, Kyo. They used to be out on LP on Duke, First Heard and Artistry (and possibly others) and I hope they have been reissued on CD as well. Edited February 15, 2008 by Big Beat Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyo Posted February 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2008 (edited) Thanks everyone! Those are some very helpful suggestions. I just ordered the album of Graettinger pieces, it just sounded too tempting (the amazon samples convinced me to go ahead). As for the others, I'm trying to find an affordable copy of the Innovations Orchestra two-fer and will probably grab some of the other CDs mentioned soon. But before I do that I need to know: Is the Kenton Holman/Russo Mosaic still worth tracking down or can those tracks be found on individual releases? I haven't managed to find a tracklisting for the Mosaic set to confirm that myself. Edited February 15, 2008 by Kyo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted February 16, 2008 Report Share Posted February 16, 2008 The Innovations stuff is also on the 1950 and 1951 Classics, I think (I have the Capitol 2CD set, but I remember seing the Classics in a sale a few years ago and I checked them just to be safe - should be almost identical - not sure Abeille still has their sale going on, and not sure these are still in print, but it may be a cheaper way - don't ask me about sound issues, though...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted February 16, 2008 Report Share Posted February 16, 2008 And just in case you wonder: almost all of the Holman/Russo Mosaic can be found on Capitol CDs by now (someone was kind enough to provide me with photocopies of the Mosaic booklet so I could check...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyo Posted February 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2008 Cool, thanks! I'll try to find that Capitol Innovations Orchestra set, I prefer their liner notes to the Classics releases I have so far. Not quite sure which way to go with the 40s stuff. The Classics discs aren't as cheap or as easily available as I'd like them to be and while Definitive Records has put most of the Mosaic set out (as a 4 disc "master takes" and a 2 disc "transcriptions" set) in comprehensive form, I remember the few Definitive releases that I got early on having really lousy annotation (if any at all). And with as much music as this, I'd rather have something good to read about it while listening for the first few times. The two "Concepts" CDs mentioned earlier, Kenton Showcase and Easy Go will probably follow soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted February 17, 2008 Report Share Posted February 17, 2008 Big beat Steve - doesn't the 1953 touring band have Bird with it? Also, Dave Schildkraut? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted February 17, 2008 Report Share Posted February 17, 2008 Dave Schildkraut was part of the Kenton band for the European tour in Aug./Sept. 1953 (he must have joined the band for the tour at the last minute to replace Don Carone as his name is not in the official program distributed at the German concerts). No trace of Bird (not for the other 1953 live recordings I m aware of, and definitelynot for the European tour), but he was a guest soloist at a concert in Portland, Oregon, on 28 Feb. 1954. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted February 18, 2008 Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 i have that bird show i think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPF Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 Bird was on tour with the Kenton band from January 28, 1954, until February 28th. I was fortunate enough to see them on February 9th in Worcester, MA. The concert also featured Dizzy Gillespie, June Christy, Lee Konitz, the Erroll Garner Trio, and Candido. Apparently they couldn't get any big names to come along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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