Best of Stan Kenton

by Stan Kenton

Product Description:

Personnel includes: Stan Kenton (arranger, piano); Dee Barton (arranger, trombone); Pete Rugolo, Bill Russo, Bill Holman, Johnny Richards (arranger); Art Pepper, Lee Konitz, Bud Shank, Boots Mussulli, Lennie Niehaus (alto saxophone); Vido Musso, Sam Donahue, Red Dorris, Bill Perkins, Bob Cooper, Jimmy Giuffre, Lucky Thompson (tenor saxophone); Maynard Ferguson, Chico Alvarez, Stu Williamson, Buddy Childers, Shorty Rogers, Conte Candoli (trumpet); Marvin Stamm (flugelhorn); Julius Watkins (French horn); Kai Winding, Frank Rosolino, Jimmy Simms, Milt Bernhart, Harry Betts, Bob Fitzpatrick (trombone); Sal Salvador, Ralph Blaze (guitar); Eddie Safranski, Curtis Counce (bass); Shelly Manne, Mel Lewis (drums); Machito (maracas).

Recorded in Hollywood, California, Chicago, Illinois, and New York, New York between 1943 and 1961.

All selections are mono except for the last two tracks.

No one would ever accuse the Stan Kenton Orchestra of swinging all that much. Still, this leading proponent of "progressive" jazz was singly influential in spurring on the West Coast scene. Any number of celebrated players passed through the ranks at one time or other, including alto great Art Pepper, trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, trombonist Frank Rosolino, and drummer Shelly Manne. Perhaps more significantly, Kenton also helped found a new abstract school of jazz singing, beginning with Anita O'Day and June Christy.

This succinct collection from Capitol Jazz focuses on the strictly instrumental Kenton from 1943 on and includes such early gems as "Artistry in Rhythm," "Artistry Jumps," and "Painted Rhythm." Taking a page from Duke Ellington, with whom he shared a florid piano style, Kenton had a pragmatic approach to experimentation, and was continually on a search for new sonorities, radical juxtapositions, and untried rhythms. Famously, Kenton had no feeling for the blues. Instead, he fully embraced Latin music, which, at the very least, accommodated his penchant for bold brass, as piercing as Perez Prado. His classic version of "Peanut Vendor," featuring mambo hero Machito on maracas, stands up well next to the real thing.