[The Creative World of Stan Kenton - left half of logo]

On this site

Contributors

If you've got recollections, pictures, and especially corrections and different opinions from mine, email them and I'll put them up.

Thanks to the folks who've contributed so far:

  • Tony Agostinelli,
  • Michel Albohair,
  • Tim Alexander,
  • Lillian Arganian,
  • Robert M. Ayer,
  • Heather Bailey,
  • Wilhelm Borgschulte,
  • Jeff Davis,
  • Roy Des Ruisseaux,
  • Barry Graham,
  • Joe Hayes,
  • Bill Jadlos,
  • J. R. Killoch,
  • Michael Madden,
  • Louis Meirsman,
  • Ed Morykwas,
  • Bob Peters,
  • Wes Pfarner,
  • Gene Siegel,
  • Dale Stevens,
  • Gerald van der Wal,
  • Erik & Margo Volkmer,
  • Noel Wedder,
  • Keith Allan Wilson,
  • (plenty of room for your name here)

Kentonia Email List

Kentonia is where fans and alumni of the Stan Kenton Orchestra keep the legacy alive. Everybody, from former band members to complete newbies is welcome.

It's possible to send an email and sign up for the list without going through the Yahoo Groups web page, but since people who do that sometimes have problems seeing the files and images on the Yahoo site, it's probably best to bite the bullet and go through the Kentonia web page, get an account at Yahoo Groups (if you don't have one already - it's free) and sign up that way.

If you select "don't convert to HTML", you'll still get an ad message at the bottom of each email, but it'll just be a plain text message. Much less annoying than the blinking horrors you get if you say you want to get messages in HTML.

The Network

Tony Agostinelli has published a regular newsletter for Kenton alumni and fans for years, and he's let us post a few of the issues here:

Stan Kenton on the Web

Images

Books and Resources

Sheet Music

  • EJazzLines has arrangements by Dave Barduhn for sale.
  • Kendor Music publishes a number of jazz composers and arrangers, including Kenton alumni Mel Lewis and Lennie Niehaus.
  • Margun Music has rental editions of several of William Russo's arrangements for Stan
  • Sierra Music's Stan Kenton charts - the original arrangements played by the band, with parts (mostly: Bob is careful to note when a chart has been adapted from the original)
  • The Stan Kenton Collection at the University of North Texas Libraries is world renowned. Scholars can examine the scores and parts, and not long ago some "lost" compositions of Bob Graettinger were found and recreated from the materials in the Collection.

Kenton Alumni

This list (and a couple of others besides) owes a great deal to the links Tony Agostinelli regularly finds and posts to the Kentonia list.

Outstanding Big Band Jazz Sites

This is absolutely, utterly a personal list of sites I like. There's no way it can be exhaustive, so I didn't even try. Maybe you'll find something you like.

  • All About Jazz isn't a big band jazz site, but unlike a lot of jazz journals in print and on the Web, it covers jazz bands, current players, and alumni.
  • bigbandjazz.net is Mike Vax's site for himself and the alumni band he sometimes scrapes up enough money to take out on the road, and he's got a store where you can buy CDs from some of today's best jazz bands.
  • Bob Brookmeyer has been one of the most original voices in big band jazz for decades. His 2003 recording with Kenny Wheeler, Island, is a landmark in jazz, and he continues to record and perform in Europe with the New Art Orchestra.
  • Chicago Jazz Ensemble, founded by long-time Kenton composer and arranger Bill Russo
  • Chicago Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra. A great band directed by Lenny King featuring some Kenton alumni.
  • Jim Donaldson asks if your trumpet were a car, which car would it be?
  • Duke Ellington Music Society has a great newsletter.
  • Electric Heart: the Don Ellis story.
  • Jake Sommers' Jazz Player Radio
  • Ron Simmonds' JazzProfessional.com has a huge number of articles and stories. Don't neglect the Humour section, especially Milt Bernhardt's story of being on the road with Benny Goodman.
  • The R. Jones Trumpet Page - and be sure to check out Ralph's brass resources list
  • J. R. Killoch's Mainly Big Bands site Don't miss his Big Band Reviews, a real help to folks who are new to the music today's big jazz bands are making. Big band recordings are produced on a shoestring (or less) and there's no money to send free copies out to reviewers, so these reviews really meet a need.
  • Tom Lord has some excellent collections of jazz links on his Jazz Discography website.
  • National Public Radio's Jazz Links - not specifically big jazz band related, but an excellent general jazz list.
  • Vince Outlaw's The New Jazz Thing weblog, transcripts and recordings from his radio show on KSDS San Diego. You can also catch his webcast there.
  • This Art Pepper discography gives information on his recordings with Stan and shows some of the Kenton alumni he recorded with after leaving the band.
  • Murray Pfeffer's Big Bands Database. A huge number of articles and listings of big band musicians, past and current.
  • Maria Schneider is making some of the most exciting new big band music today. Not only does her website have her CDs and a great collection of fan material, she also sells downloadable MP3 files and even PDF files of her scores!
  • The Sentimental Journey Orchestra has a brilliant collection of Bandstand Stories, some of them featuring Stan or his alumni, all great fun.
  • Got some spare time in LA? The Southern California Big Band Jazz Calendar will put you on the right track.
  • Trumpet Stuff has got every thing those blaring, loud noisemakers could want, from articles and stories to sound clips.
  • Trombone.org is similar, but because it's about the prince of instruments, the noble trombone, it's much better.
  • University of North Texas Jazz Studies Department. Check their alumni listings and you'll see some familiar names.
  • OK, Terry Vosbein's website isn't a big band site, but he's a distinguished Kenton scholar who year after year has helped composers and arrangers understand the Kenton legacy, and I happen to love his original compositions, many of which are available for download in MP3 and score on that website. So as czar of this website, I get to put him in!
  • Gerald Wilson's page at the MAMA Foundation

Sounds

Here's a few sounds I've recorded. They're brief, 22.1kHz snippets in mono. They all require Real Player or (better because it comes without all the spyware) Real Alternative.

  • Imagine you'd enjoyed "Opus in Pastels" and "Peanut Vendor" and came to a concert of the Innovations Orchestra in 1950 where they played City of Glass. Audiences did, and some of them loved it. (.rm -- 49 KB)
  • Bill Holman's free interpretation of "Stompin at the Savoy" from Contemporary Concepts (.rm -- 52 KB)
  • The intro to a "power ballad" by the Contemporary Concepts Orchestra: Marty Paich's arrangement of "My Old Flame" from Back to Balboa (.rm -- 70 KB)
  • A chorus from Dee Barton's "Waltz of the Prophets" from Adventures in Jazz by the Mellophonium Orchestra (.rm -- 67 KB)
  • Mellophoniums take the line on Johnny Richards' "3 x 3 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 72" from Adventures in Time (.rm -- 31 KB)

Here's some sounds on other sites.

  • A transcript with audio excerpts of the famous Buddy Rich bus tape. A trumpet player of my acquaintance described the difference between Stan and Buddy: "Stan's never grouchy. Buddy's never nice."
  • Want to hear people getting high? On their trumpets, silly! Head for screamtrumpet.com
  • Dave DeCarolis's MIDI Warehouse has some Kenton MIDI files.
  • Al Levy's Kenton MIDI files The files aren't currently online.
  • Carl Saunders was a featured soloist on the latest Kenton alumni band tour, and he's got a video on his website of his performance of "My Foolish Heart".
  • Sounds from a recent "Stratospheric"
  • Tuxedo Junction has a page of Kenton MP3 files, mostly early, but with a couple from the legendary Live In London 1972 set.

The appearance of this page is inspired by the album covers of the Stan Kenton LPs released by Creative World Records.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

[mail to kenton at crispen dot org]

[The Creative World of Stan Kenton - right half of logo]

Finding Kenton Recordings

Discographies

The two online discographies are good places to start to find out about recordings you're interested in. Remember, though, that a discography will only tell you if a recording ever existed, not whether it's available today.

Our Kenton Discography
includes only 10" and 12" vinyl albums, album-length cassettes and album-length CDs. So far there is no online discography for Kenton singles or 6" EPs.
Stan Kenton on CD - the Ultimate Listing
by Michael Sparke and Pete Venudor. By far the best discography on albums that have been released in the CD format

Databases

The online CD databases are also good places to search for records, and they usually list the songs that are on the albums, so they're definitely the place to start if you don't know what album a song is on. CDDB and FreeDB are usually much faster than allmusic.com or the online CD stores (also a good place to look).

CDDB
At Gracenote. This is the oldest database, and if your CD player program (e.g., WinAmp, Windows Media Player) or CD ripper (e.g., CDEx, EAC) goes out onto the net and magically identifies the CD you're playing, this is probably the database it uses.
CDDB Bookmarklet
Drag the link into your toolbar in Mozilla, Firefox, or Opera, and when you want to look up a record in the CD Database, either:
  1. Drag your mouse to select the name of the artist and (optionally) the name of the recording from the web page you're viewing, or
  2. Don't select anything from the webpage, click on the bookmarklet, and type in the name of the artist and (optionally) some keywords from the name of the recording (e.g., "stan kenton west side story")
Sorry to report, the current version of Internet Explorer uses a non-standard version of the Document Object Model, so this bookmarklet won't work on MSIE.
FreeDB
Lots of people submitted data to the CDDB over the years, and when Gracenote took it over and started to use it commercially, some folks thought that was a dirty trick. So they started their own database, FreeDB, and some media players and CD rippers use this database. At this writing, it's probably a good idea to check both databases.
allmusic.com
This is a commercial site, and it currently has a slow, annoying interface. It's also full of ads, and the listings are several months behind the times. Still, allmusic.com lists some of the performers and soloists (click the "Credits" tab for the album you're interested in), and lists the composers of the songs, and you can't find that information online anywhere else, except in the online CD stores.
Note: The "buy it now" links on allmusic.com's listings link to Barnes & Noble at this writing. Barnes & Noble are a lovely company, but lots of other places have more CDs on in stock. So if you don't find a "buy it now" link on allmusic.com, that does not mean the album is out of print. Some of the other CD stores may have it.

Online CD stores

Amazon (and similar online CD stores)
Their artist search results sometimes list "Stan Kenton", "Stan Kenton and his Orchestra", etc. Be sure to check them all.
Americatones Records
Has CDs by Kenton alumni Dick Shearer and Bill Perkins
bigbandjazz.net
Their CD Shop has recordings from Kenton alumni and today's big jazz bands. This is one of the best places to go to find recordings of the new voices in large ensemble jazz.
Channel Classics
They have two performances of Bob Graettinger's music by the Ebony Band. One, City of Glass (CCS 06395), is easy to find. The other, Live at the Paradiso (CCS 13198), is really well hidden, both here and on Amazon, but if you like Graettinger's music you'll be glad you made the effort.
Collectors' Choice Music
Besides the CDs you'll find on Amazon and other stores, Collectors' Choice has been putting out some special reissues of their own in 2-for-1 editions, including some rarities that we'll probably never see Blue Note reissue.
Crabapple Sound
Big band remotes
Fresh Sounds Records
Distributor of new records and reissues in Barcelona, Spain. There's a lot of Kenton alumni in their catalogs.
GEM Limited
"The Lost Stan Kenton Concert"
GNP Cresendo Records
still has a few copies of some of their original issues on the Creative World label
Hitchcock Media
Has two Stan Kenton recordings and one of the Four Freshmen (at this writing).
MAMA Foundation
Has the Back to Balboa 50th Anniversary reunion collection.
Mosaic Records
Has had several excellent Kenton reissues, including the 1943-47 and Holman/Russo box sets
Music Stack
Their search results page for Stan Kenton shows a lot of records. I haven't bought anything there yet, so I don't know how good they are.
Naxos Records
Their Naxos Jazz Legends series has some "McGregor Transcriptions" CDs. Apart from the name, I don't know anything about them. Does somebody want to review them for our discography?
Storyville Records (Denmark)
Has a 1966 recording of Stan Kenton with the Danish Radio big band (101 8340).
Tantara Productions
A small catalog but a mighty one. Lots of Kenton fans would consider every one of their releases to be essential. Brilliant music.
Woofy Productions
Has a "Stan Kenton Alumni Series" featuring live small-group performances by Carl Fontana, Conte Candoli, Bill Perkins, and several other Kenton alumni. I've heard some of these, and they're great.
Wounded Bird Records
Nothing by Stan Kenton yet, but they have (at this writing) some Don Ellis reissues.

And then, don't forget

Froogle (and similar online price comparison guides)
Search their listings and find the best price

Finding That Special CD

Suppose the record you've been longing for hasn't been reissued on CD yet or, worse, was reissued, but it's out of print now. What can you do? Here's some ideas from some of our veteran CD hunter friends.

  • A locally-owned record store in your town might still have it, provided (a) it wasn't sold out when it was first issued, and (b) they didn't return their unsold stock to their distributor.
  • A record distributor might still have it among their mixed stock of returned CDs. The best place to try is at a newly opened Tower or similar chain store (new stores in some chains are initially stocked with some miscellaneous CDs from odd corners of the warehouse in addition to the top 40).
  • If Amazon lists the CD as out of print, they'll let you offer a price you're willing to buy it at, and as soon as someone offers it for that price, they'll contact you.
  • Radio stations (especially NPR stations in the US) and libraries occasionally have record sales.
  • There's always eBay and other online actions, but check the seller's reputation and make sure you aren't bidding on the vinyl or cassette version (unless that's the version you want).

Good luck. There's some heartening news: the Stan Kenton Christmas CD, which was just about unobtainable, was reissued not long ago, and there are rumors that Stan Kenton/Tex Ritter and Kenton Plays Wagner may be coming out as well.