When was stan kenton born

Kenton Plays Wagner was an important project, but by then the bandleader's attention was on jazz education. By conducting a countless number of clinics and making his charts available to college and high-school stage bands, Kenton insured that there would be many bands that sounded like his, and the inverse result was that his own young orchestra sounded like a professional college band! Kenton continued leading and touring with his big band up until his death in Kenton recorded for Capitol for 25 years and in the s formed his Creative World label to reissue most of his Capitol output and record his current band.

In recent times Capitol has begun reissuing Kenton 's legacy on CD and there have been two impressive Mosaic box sets. AllMusic relies heavily on JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to use the site fully. Blues Classical Country. Electronic Folk International. Jazz Latin New Age. Aggressive Bittersweet Druggy. Energetic Happy Hypnotic. Romantic Sad Sentimental. Sexy Trippy All Moods.

Drinking Hanging Out In Love. Introspection Late Night Partying. Rainy Day Relaxation Road Trip. Connect to Spotify. A new version of Last. Stanley Newcomb Kenton December 15, August 25, led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra.

In later years he was widely active as an educator. He learned piano as a child, and while still a teenager toured with various bands. In June he formed his own band, which developed into one of the best-known West Coast ensembles of the Forties. Kenton's musical aggregations were decidedly "orchestras. So large an orchestra was able to produce a tremendous, at times overpowering, volume in the dance and concert halls of the land; among musical conservatives it developed a reputation for playing strange-sounding pieces much too loudly, and indeed one comical MC introduced Stan Kenton as "Cant Standit.

A Kenton specialty was Afro-Cuban rhythm, as exported to North America by such bandleaders as Machito whose brass and reed sound, in turn, began to show the influence of Kenton. Translated into the Kenton idiom, however, the Latin rhythms might be scored for a full panoply of percussion instruments: tympani, bongos, conga, timbales, claves, and maracas.

This component of Kenton's work may be heard on the recording "Machito" and on the album Cuban Fire, still in print after more than fifty years of ceaseless change in popular music. Many of Kenton's band arrangements were written by Kenton himself, as well as other composers and arrangers such as Gene Roland, Pete Rugolo, W. The music, which could be intensely dissonant, made use of powerful brass sections and unconventional saxophone voicings that showed Kenton's love of experimenting, reflected in the names he gave his ensembles: "Innovations Orchestra," "Neophonic Orchestra," and "Mellophonium Orchestra.

But apart from recording a few dance-band albums Kenton's men could play standards beautifully , he avoided compromising his idea of jazz to please either critics or public. Kenton played in the s in the dance bands of Vido Musso and Gus Arnheim, but he was born to be a leader. In he formed his first orchestra, which later was named after his theme song "Artistry in Rhythm. Although there were no major names in his first band bassist Howard Rumsey and trumpeter Chico Alvarez come the closest , Kenton spent the summer of playing regularly before a very appreciative audience at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa Beach, CA.

Influenced by Jimmie Lunceford who, like Kenton, enjoyed high-note trumpeters and thick-toned tenors , the Stan Kenton Orchestra struggled a bit after its initial success. Its Decca recordings were not big sellers and a stint as Bob Hope's backup radio band was an unhappy experience; Les Brown permanently took Kenton's place.

By late with a Capitol contract, a popular record in "Eager Beaver," and growing recognition, the Stan Kenton Orchestra was gradually catching on. By the band had evolved quite a bit. Pete Rugolo became the chief arranger extending Kenton's ideas , Bob Cooper and Vido Musso offered very different tenor styles, and June Christy was Kenton's new singer; her popular hits including "Tampico" and "Across the Alley From the Alamo" made it possible for Kenton to finance his more ambitious projects.

Calling his music "progressive jazz," Kenton sought to lead a concert orchestra as opposed to a dance band at a time when most big bands were starting to break up. By Kai Winding was greatly influencing the sound of Kenton's trombonists, the trumpet section included such screamers as Buddy Childers, Ray Wetzel, and Al Porcino, Jack Costanzo's bongos were bringing Latin rhythms into Kenton's sound, and a riotous version of "The Peanut Vendor" contrasted with the somber "Elegy for Alto.

In Kenton took a year off. In he put together his most advanced band, the piece Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra that included 16 strings, a woodwind section, and two French horns. These clinics, which he later set up in other schools as well, proved to be highly fertile training grounds, and Kenton proved to have a sharp eye for hot new talent. As rock 'n' roll eroded the popularity of his band in the early s, Kenton branched out again with his New Era in Modern Music Orchestra.

This piece ensemble included a mellophonium, a cross between a trumpet and trombone that produced a sound similar to a French horn. Unlike his bands of the past, this Kenton group relied mostly on young performers rather than highly paid established stars.

The band recorded eleven albums during its two-year history and received much acclaim for its recordings of the sound track for West Side Story and another album called Adventures in Jazz. Kenton's next band was the highly experimental Neophonic Orchestra, which featured 14 brass instrumentalists among its 28 players. The bandleader's high visibility and popularity at this time attracted some top Hollywood musicians and jazz-oriented composers, as well instrumentalists who played with his previous bands.

Many critics considered this band to be Kenton's creative peak. As was pointed out in the Christian Science Monitor in , "One gets the feeling that this is what Stan Kenton has been working up to all his musical life Financial setbacks forced Kenton to bolster his income by performing with a pickup band, recording albums, and making guest spots on television during the late s. In the s Kenton devoted more attention to the educational and business ends of his music. By he was conducting over music clinics a year, as well as four week-long summer clinics on college campuses.

At this time he was also distributing various educational materials and stage-band charts, as well as his own albums, with his Creative World company. Still active on the performance circuit with a new band formed in , Kenton toured Europe and Japan during the early and mid s.

Various illnesses and hospitalizations slowed him down somewhat, including an aneurysm in and a cerebral hemorrhage in , before he passed away in To his dying day he remained highly critical of country music, as well as rock 'n' roll, and had little respect for the musical tastes of people in general. The masses can't communicate with art. Began taking piano lessons from mother, ; formed group in high school called the Belltones; played in speakeasies and other clubs; performed with Everett Hoagland's band, s; played with dance bands of Vido Musso and Gus Arnheim, ?

Selective Works City of Glass, Capitol, Innovations in Modern Music, Capitol, New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm, Capitol, Mellophonium Moods, Status, Kenton '76, Creative World, Periodicals Billboard, August 16, , p.