Dick Berk: 1939-2014 - A Tribute

The Art of Jazz Baritone Saxophone

The Book of "Jazz" Times Two

© -  Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

"This is without a doubt one of the best books on jazz ever written. Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux have achieved a monumental feat by creating a history of jazz that will appeal to academicians and aficionados alike. Thoroughly researched and carefully documented, yet written in an entertaining and enjoyable narrative style, this is truly a book for jazz lovers of all backgrounds. By telling the story of jazz in its full cultural, musical, political, social, economic, and historical context, Giddins and DeVeaux have given us one hell of a kick-ass book!"           

-David Baker, Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Jazz Department, Indiana University

"Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux's Jazz cuts through the gibberish, racial politics, and ideology that typify so much of contemporary jazz criticism. This excellent book, which not only addresses musical theory but provides insight into the history of the art as well, will serve the general reader but can also be used to stimulate discussion groups and jazz workshops."                                        

 -Ishmael Reed, author of Mixing It Up: Taking On the Media Bullies and Other Reflections

"Like no other history, Jazz involves the reader right from the start in an active listening role. The parsing of the selected recordings is brilliantly done, and this feature alone makes the book a must, for beginners and seasoned fans. But there's much more, all imbued with the coauthors' love for and understanding of the music, in all its many facets-and as a living, still evolving language."

-Dan Morgenstern director of the Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, and author of Living with Jazz

"In an innovative departure from previous approaches to the history of American jazz, this eagerly awaited new text by Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux offers a unique combination of cutting-edge historical scholarship and experienced journalistic perspectives. This book is destined to become an important resource, one that confronts crucially important musical and social issues in depth-and with passion."

-George E. Lewis, Case Professor of American Music, Columbia University, and author of A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music

"This extraordinary book is the one we've been waiting for-an exhaustive, multi-disciplinary, judiciously crafted history of jazz and its culture. It is sure to become the industry standard, cherished by students as well as aficionados, who may dispute its judgments but will surely keep it close at hand as an essential reference."

-Krin Gabbard, author of Hotter Than That: The Trumpet, Jazz, and American Culture

Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux are the co-authors of Jazz which is available from its publisher, W.W. Norton, in both a trade and a commercial edition. The title of this feature is meant to reflect this duality of authorship and format.

Each version of Jazz offers a distinct reading experience, so much so that I urge you to consider adding both volumes to your Jazz library.

By way of background, the esteemed Jazz critic Gary Giddins is also the author of Visions of Jazz, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award; Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Rye, Rhythm-a-ning Jazz Tradition and Innovation in the 80’s, and Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker. He teaches at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and lives in New York City.

All four of Gary’s books have been reviewed on JazzProfiles and you can get to these previous posts by simply clicking on the above book titles.

Scott DeVeaux is a nationally recognized Jazz scholar and winner of the American Book Award for The Birth of Bebop: A Social and Musical History. Scott has taught Jazz history at the University of Virginia for more than twenty-five years. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.

As befits writers on the subject of Jazz of the caliber of Messrs Giddins and DeVeaux, both editions are graced throughout with photographs by the acclaimed photographer, Herman Leonard.

The format of the trade edition of Jazz provides the reader with a more traditional narrative or chapter-by-chapter reading experience. Jazz fans have a tendency to become very argumentative [combative?] about what is included in comprehensive treatments on the subject [just ask Ken Burns, the director of the PBS documentary on Jazz] so it is important to note that what this book is and what it is not is clearly explained by the authors in the following excerpts from its Introduction.

“One of the great pleasures of looking into jazz — beyond the excitement and variety of the music itself — derives from its relative historical newness. To the generations born after the Vietnam War, it may seem like an old story that predates rock and hip-hop and their grandparents. But following its contours today, in the early years of the twenty-first century, is like what it might have meant to pursue Shakespeare in 1650, when you could still meet people who saw the plays as originally produced and even worked or hung out with the guy who wrote them. The pioneers of jazz, including its preeminent soloist (Louis Armstrong) and composer (Duke Ellington), worked into the 1970s and beyond. Innovators of later jazz styles and schools are with us now. Young musicians, creating tremendous excitement at this moment, will be acclaimed as tomorrow’s masters. In other words, the dust of history has by no means settled on jazz. The canon of masterpieces, far from fixed, remains open to interpretation, adjustment, and expansion.

Jazz is designed to impart a narrative arc that traces the development of jazz from nineteenth-century musical precursors to the present, while offering a few ways to understand that arc. It differs from most jazz histories on at least three counts. First, we do not treat jazz as music in a vacuum, perpetuating itself as a baton passed from genius to genius; we see it, rather, as a reflection of broader cultural, political, social, and economic factors, and attempt to line up the crucial moments in its progress with historical events that it reflected and influenced.

Second, this book requires neither musical knowledge nor ability (only a predisposition for the enjoyment of music and the imagination to feel its expressive power), but it always keeps one eye firmly cocked on illustrative jazz masterworks. To that effect, we include seventy-eight Listening Guides that analyze a broad range of recordings with mostly nonmusicological descriptions of what happens from one passage to the next. Most of these records are recognized classics, while others are fairly or very obscure. We have programmed all seventy-eight selections on four CDs, which can be ordered from the Norton website (www.wwnorton.com/books/recordings -for-jazz). We strongly recommend this collection, not least for the new transfers, which in most instances are superior to those in commercial release.

Third, we emphasize a rudimentary understanding of basic jazz techniques and structures as a corrective to the intimidation many people feel when confronted with improvisation. Toward that goal, we have front-loaded the book with two chapters on basic musical elements and how they function in jazz. The idea is to provide a musician’s-eye view of what happens on the bandstand, and to enable the listener to participate more knowingly in the now of jazz creativity. These facets, which are amplified in the glossary, are demonstrated with four classic recordings (part of the CD set and analyzed more closely in succeeding chapters): Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues" (1928), Billie Holiday’s "A Sailboat in the Moonlight" (1937), Charlie Parker’s "Now's the Time" (1953), and Miles Davis’s "So What" (1959).

Finally, a word about what this book is not: it’s not an encyclopedia of jazz—such works exist and they are invaluable. A book like this makes choices every step of the way. Just how many choices are possible became especially evident to us as we spent more than a year choosing our musical examples and debating which aspects of the story to emphasize and which to omit, usually for reasons of space or coherence—including most jazz made beyond the borders of the continental United States. If you have a love of jazz, some of your favorites are not mentioned at all or only in passing. We know that of a certainty, because some of our own favorites were relegated to limbo. Mea culpa, Carmen McRae, Art Pepper, et al.!”

What set’s the commercial or, if you will, textbook edition of Jazz apart in explained by the authors in these excerpts of its introductory, Plan of the Book:

The Plan of the Book

“Each part of Jazz opens with an introductory overview of the period in question and its music; a timeline, situating important jazz events within a broader context of cultural and political history; and dynamic photographs that capture the mood of the era.

PART I: MUSICAL ORIENTATION This first part introduces the vocabulary necessary for discussing the basic rudiments of music and demonstrates, by recorded examples, how those rudiments function in jazz. "Musical Elements and Instruments" analyzes timbre; rhythm, polyrhythm, and swing; melody and harmony; and texture. "Jazz Form and Improvisation" delves into the area of formal structure, chiefly the twelve-bar blues and the thirty-two-bar A A B A popular song—forms that recur throughout jazz history. It provides a musician’s-eye view of what happens on the bandstand, along with examples of essential jazz lingo like trading fours, rhythm changes, grooves, and modal improvisation.

This is the most technical section of Jazz. But we have attempted to clarify these points on our website ("Jazz Concepts"), with video and audio recordings by the Free Bridge Quintet, a band affiliated with the University of Virginia, that address each musical concept — from scales and blue notes to contrasting timbres of instruments to performance techniques. In addition, two pieces have been written specially for this book by the quintet's trumpeter, John D’earth — a twelve-bar blues and a thirty-two-bar song form — that put many of these concepts into action.

When a head is accompanied by the audio icon (>), that means you can go to "Jazz Concepts" online to hear and see examples of what the section describes—brass instruments, reed instruments, trumpet mutes, homophonic texture, major scales, harmonic progressions, and so on. We suggest that you absorb this material and listen to the examples with the expectation of returning to them periodically as you progress through Jazz.

The four main parts of Jazz, described below, cover the broad sweep of the music's history and its major figures, as illustrated by seventy-seven recordings, analyzed in laymen's terms in Listening Guides. Again, you don't have to know how to read music to enjoy the guides—only how to read a clock.

PART II: EARLY JAZZ (1900-1930)

PART III: THE SWING ERA

PART IV: MODERN JAZZ

PART V: THE AVANT-GARDE, FUSION, HISTORICISM, AND NOW

Within the chapters, key musical terms are highlighted in the text in boldface; these can also be found in the glossary at the back of the book, and most are demonstrated in the online "Jazz Concepts." Throughout the text, new terms are occasionally defined in the margin, or old terms redefined. When one such term is accompanied by an audio icon, that means you can hear an example of the concept being defined in "Jazz Concepts."

Each chapter ends with a list of suggestions for additional listening, including the date of the original recording. For three musicians whose careers span several parts, we provide a chronology at the end of his respective chapter—Louis Armstrong (Chapter 6), Duke Ellington (Chapter 8), and Miles Davis (Chapter 14). And each historical part (II-V) ends with a summary describing and outlining in detail the main style points of that era's music, along with lists of its major musicians.

In addition to the glossary, appendixes include a list of selected jazz musicians (with birth and death dates), categorized by primary instrument; a primer on musical notation; an essay on building a collection of jazz recordings; a filmography; and a bibliography.

The Art

We are very proud of the design of Jazz, and hope you will enjoy the black and white photographs—especially the work of the brilliant Herman Leonard, considered by many to be the greatest photographer ever to focus his camera on jazz. A protege of Yousuf Karsh, Leonard is distinguished in his work by his total control of light. In the late 1940s, the peak of his jazz period, he brought his equipment to clubs, blocked out the natural light, and created his own chiaroscuro effects, emphasizing the excitement of the music and the milieu — through reflected highlights and his signature use of cigarette smoke. Leonard's New Orleans studio was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and he moved to California, where he died in 2010. In 2013, the William J. Clinton Presidential Library honored him with a five-month exhibition of his jazz photography. Leonard shot almost all of the full-page photographs that introduce each chapter.

The Listening Guides

Jazz provides a comprehensive overview of the music through seventy-seven selections, combining acknowledged classics (Miles Davis's "So What," Coleman Hawkins's "Body and Soul," Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues") with several unusual but illuminating tracks, ranging from Wilbur Sweatman's "Down Home Rag" (1916) to Cecile McLorin Salvant's "John Henry" (2013). Each selection is introduced by a passage in the text, designated with a listening icon (icon = earphones), that sets the scene for the work. This is followed by a Listening Guide (carrying the same icon), in which significant musical moments are linked directly to timings along the left.

1.  Below the title of the piece, you'll find basic information about the recording: the musicians, original label, date of recording, and style and form of the piece.

2.  The "What to listen for" box offers some key points to help orient your listening.

3.  All boldface terms are included in the glossary at the back, and most are featured in audio and/or video demonstrations online ("Jazz Concepts").

4.   Occasionally a music example is provided to illustrate a distinctive melody or rhythm.

TOTAL ACCESS to Recordings and Digital Media

This book offers some exciting.digital features to enrich and reinforce your study of jazz. First, you have instant access to all seventy-seven recordings streamed from StudySpace or your teacher's Coursepack, as well as an Interactive Listening Guide (iLG)—combining text, visuals, and music—for each selection. (wwnorton.com/total-access/jazz2).

•   "Jazz Concepts" audio and video demonstrations, prepared under the direction of Scott DeVeaux and recorded by John D earth and the Free Bridge Quintet, give you an intimate look at each instrument and walk you through the main musical concepts discussed in the book. The basic elements of music theory are brought to life through clear, simple examples. In addition, these superb musicians show how improvisation works in different tempos, grooves, and meters, and how the concepts specific to jazz (breaks, trading fours) are put into practice in a jam-session-style performance.

•   Author Insight Videos, engaging interviews with Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux, elaborate on important points made throughout the book. These are specified in the "Multimedia Resources" list at the end of each chapter.

•   You also have access to a mobile-compatible ebook, integrated with music, iLGs, and video; chapter and listening quizzes; and flashcards and outlines for review.

•   Available for separate purchase is a DVD containing all seventy-seven works in mp3 format as well as iLGs.

For Instructors

For Instructors

•   Coursepacks for Blackboard, WebCT, and other course management systems include playlists that stream all seventy-seven recordings featured in the text; an Interactive Listening Guide for each recording that integrates text, visuals, and music; a tablet-compatible ebook; author videos; over 100 "Jazz Concepts" audio and video recordings; listening quizzes, and more. Download free from wwnorton.com/instructors.

•   An Instructor's Resource Disc includes photographs from the book, PowerPoint bullet-point outlines, author videos, and "Jazz Concepts" audio and video demonstrations. Order or download free from wwnorton.com/ instructors.

•   An Instructor's Manual (by Ryan P.Jones, University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire) provides chapter outlines, teaching strategies, sample course syllabi, suggestions for reading and viewing, and questions and prompts for class discussion and research papers. Download free from wwnorton.com/instructors.

•   A Test Bank in Microsoft Word and Exam View format (by Nathan Bakkum, Columbia College, Chicago) offers hundreds of multiple-choice, true/false, short-answer, and matching questions as well as essay prompts for each chapter, covering both text and repertory. Download free from wwnorton.com/instructors.

•   A Discography (by jazz critic Ted Panken) provides recording information for all pieces mentioned in the book, and additional selections as well. Download free from wwnorton.com/instructors.”

For academicians and aficionados [to use a phrase from David Baker’s opening quotation], does it get any better than Jazz? With this book, especially in its interactive format, Jazz education and appreciation has gone from near total obscurity to near total revelation in my lifetime.

Availability and affordability have not always been aligned factors in terms of information about Jazz as in the past it usually required an extensive record collection and a small library of specialized books in order to acquire an overview on the subject of Jazz.

The trade and commercial editions of Jazz, either singly or in combination, remedy this problem by making the broad sweep of the music during the first 100 years of existence available to fans, teachers and students of Jazz between the covers of one book with an interactive dimension that provides samplings of the music via online digital files [or a CD, if you prefer].

Over the years, in countless conversations with family members and friends who didn’t know the first thing about Jazz, I wished for a book like Jazz that would easily exemplify what I was trying to explain to them about the music.

In such circumstances, the examples, exhibits, exercises, explanations, definitions, descriptions and myriad other “teaching tools” contained in Jazz would have been invaluable.

There’s nothing not to like about Jazz: you get double doses of two of the best writers on the subject; impeccable research; marvelous photographs; new insights, observations and points-of-view about the stylistic development of the music, all of which enhance your understanding of the music’s growth and development. Additionally, the authors’ listening recommendations will help move your ears in new directions.

With the upcoming holiday gift giving season, you can’t go wrong putting both editions of the Giddins-DeVeaux Jazz at the very top of your wish list.

Thanks to the generosity of Susan Gaustad, Senior Developmental Editor, and the nice people on her staff at the publishing house of W.W. Norton, both of my wishes have already been granted.

Now if I can just get my wife to give me back the copy of the interactive edition!

Stan Kenton - The Innovations Orchestra

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

"About that Stan Kenton band,” comedian Mort Sahl was telling audiences around this time, "a waiter dropped a tray and three couples got up to dance.” Sahl was, in fact, one of Kenton's greatest boosters, but his quip was a revealing expression of the bandleader's general reputation, by now well earned, for the unusual and excessive.

Actually Kenton never went quite so far afield again as he had done with Bob Graettinger's works [e.g. City of Glass] — much to the relief of many jazz fans. Even so, he managed to capture a wide range of sounds in his early 1950s bands.

The Innovations band of 1950 aimed at integrating a large string section permanently into the group. This presented numerous problems, both musical (the strings were easily drowned out by the screaming brass) and practical (the band put Kenton some $125,000 in the red after just four months). The Innovations band's repertoire was built around a series of eponymous pieces designed to feature individual group members—Shorty Rogers's “Art Pepper” and “Maynard Ferguson,” Kenton's “Shelly Manne” and “June Christy”—as well as workout pieces for individual sections of the band, such as Bill Russo's “The Halls of Brass” or Graettinger's “House of Strings.”

The compositions occasionally buckle under the weighty self-consciousness of the writing as well as a tendency toward pomposity, but for the most part they capture the listener's interest. The string writing in particular is surprisingly good, given how little experience writers such as Kenton and Rogers must have had in this area.

Rogers's string underpinning to "Art Pepper," Kenton's string accompaniment to "Shelly Manne," Graettinger's string feature—all of these are quite successful. If there is a down side to this music, it is less the presence of violas and violins than it is the overly demonstrative brass work. On the whole, the recordings of the Innovations band hold up well today, and one suspects that this music must have had a powerful effect when heard live in a concert hall. The band and its composers formed the strongest unit Kenton would ever field: Pepper, Rogers, Bud Shank, Manne, Ferguson, Christy, Bob Cooper, Russo, Graettinger, Laurindo Almeida.

After two tours, however, the physical and financial strain of maintaining such a large working band proved to be too much. Briefly considering an Innovations III tour, Kenton decided to drop the fiddlers and go with a "small" band consisting of five reeds, ten brass, and four rhythm instruments.”

- Ted Gioia, West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960 [paragraphing modified]

Michael Sparke is a recognized authority on the Stan Kenton Orchestra. We wrote to him at his home in England to request copyright permission to reprint the following overview of Stan’s Innovations Orchestra which was in existence from 1950 to 1951.

At the time Michael composed these notes, he and his co-author, Pete Venudor, had just issued Stan Kenton: The Studio Sessions – A Discography.

Michael has since published Stan Kenton: This is An Orchestra!, a University of North Texas publication.

Michael’s  Stan Kenton Innovations Orchestra essay was originally commission by Capitol Records to serve as the liner notes to its double CD release of The Innovations Orchestra [CDP7243 8 59965 2 8]. He was asked to edit the essay because of space limitations with the CD-booklet.

Contained below is Michael’s original and complete essay “… which offers considerably more insight into this remarkable music.”

© -1997, 1998, Michael Sparke, copyright protected; all rights reserved; used with the author’s permission.

“When Stan Kenton returned to music in 1950 after a year's sabbatical, he was determined his come-back should be memorable. At a time when name bands were folding all over the country, and leaders like Herman and Basie were experimenting with small groups in order to stay solvent, Kenton amazed the business and excited his fans by announcing he would lead a 40-piece orchestra, complete with strings, horns and woodwinds, dedicated to playing an advanced form of concert music.

The biggest controversy centered around the 16 strings, since only a couple of years previously Kenton had told down beat. "A big string section is a thrilling sound, but not for jazz or jazz bands. Certainly not for ours." Clinton Roemer was the band's chief copyist, and he believes Stan changed his mind after attending a Rugolo-arranged recording date for Billy Eckstine during the summer of 1949. Kenton fell in love with Pete's writing for strings with a big band, and it was after this that the idea for Innovations began to germinate.

From the start, Stan knew the band would not even carry a dance library. Concerts were very dear to Stan's heart, and this orchestra would play the finest concert halls in America, from the Hollywood Bowl in California to Carnegie Hall in New York. The book would be new and diverse, but above all, Kenton's vision was to establish decisively the new American Concert Music which his previous orchestras had already done so much to create.

Rugolo agreed to return as Chief Arranger and Assistant Director, but because of his other writing commitments, there was no way Pete could come up with more than a handful of scores in time to suit a Kenton super-charged with enthusiasm, and raring to go. So they decided to extend the arranging staff, and invite around a dozen of the most-acclaimed composers in Modern Music to write for the orchestra. In Stan's words: "I chose guys whom I respect, and who know what I can do. I told them they had complete freedom in whatever they wrote, but that I expected integrity. All I said to them was: What would you write, if you had the chance to create the greatest thing you know how?"

The writers knew the sound Stan expected from the brass and saxophones, and applied the same principles to the strings. Partly due to the interpretations of concert-master George Kast, but even more to the skills of the composers, the Innovations strings became "Kentonized." Gone was the saccharine sound often associated with strings in jazz, and in its place the sections produced a hard, brilliant tone which matched the familiar resonances of the Kenton brass. In Bill Russo's view: "I was amazed at the level of playing. The string players were in some ways the best-schooled musicians I've ever had available to me in my life." Stan employed the finest Hollywood had to offer, but their backgrounds were inevitably classical, as illustrated at the first rehearsal. When Kenton walked on stage, the jazz guys went right on chewing the fat, while the string players all stood deferentially and bowed to the leader, as they would to a classical conductor. Yet, within a handful of rehearsals, the different cultures had come together musically, and the vital role of the strings became apparent. In many ways, it is the additional tone colors and classical influence created by the strings which give Innovations its distinctive individuality and character.

Kenton chose his composers with care, and to be truthful, many charts did not survive their first rehearsal. But the maturity of the compositions chosen for performance is exceptional, and the real strength of Innovations lies in the way the composers integrated the different types of music. Nowhere were classical sounds and devices tacked onto jazz in some superficial way. Rather, the composers achieved an original and musically valid blend; a highly effective synthesis of formal, modern concert music with the excitement and dynamism of big band jazz. Innovations is a true example of hybrid vigor, and a major artistic triumph which could only have happened because of the catalytic nature of Kenton's own musical personality.

Having put together this magnificent orchestra, Kenton was faced with the dilemma that his business associates thought he had taken leave of his senses, and not even Stan's reputation could convince a promoter to finance the tour. In the end, Kenton had to book the band himself, through his manager Bob Allison working out of the Kenton office. Any profits would be all Stan's - but so would 100% of any losses. As everyone but Kenton the idealist foresaw, in the musical climate of 1950, the project was commercially a non-starter. What made it all worthwhile for Kenton was the music. Maybe even then Stan sensed that this was the nearest he would ever come to leading a permanently-organized, full-fledged concert orchestra, playing America's finest auditoriums and concert halls, and performing a new, exciting and original form of progressive American music. And fortunately, Capitol was right behind Stan in his most risky endeavor to date, and recorded a fair percentage of the exploratory Innovations music.

Rugolo's mastery of the orchestra's wide tonal range is manifest throughout Mirage, a skillfully crafted descriptive work of almost five minutes' duration. The score depicts the gradual formation, realization, and slow disintegration of a mirage, and during concerts lent itself especially well to lighting effects, producing a stunning combination of music and electronics, Kenton-style. During the opening passages, while snatches of strings and woodwinds introduce the atmospheric theme and create the illusion of a mirage forming, the orchestra was bathed in a red glow. This was transformed into a flood of white light as the climactic brass explodes, and the full orchestra reveals the expanse and splendor of the complete mirage. Then, as the vision begins to fade, the musicians played in near darkness, until at the end one realizes it was only a fantasy, and the lights flashed bright again. Special credit must be given to Shelly Manne's consummate percussion work throughout, a drummer so sympathetic to Kenton's ideals he would never be eclipsed.

Cited by Rugolo as one of his most important pieces of music, Conflict was described by Pete as a tone poem that depicts the alternating feelings of happiness and anxiety which constantly vie for position within our subconscious mind. Originally written for June Christy at the tail end of 1948, Rugolo re-orchestrated and lengthened the piece a year later to include the strings. In concert, June sang her wordless role off-stage, and on record her vocal track was made after the orchestral background had been taped. June's intricate part was entirely written out, and because she could not read music had to be learned by heart. She told down beat the score meant nothing to her, "Except when it indicates an eight-bar rest, I know I have some time to run the next phrase over in my mind." There are of course precedents in classical music (Debussy, Ravel, Villa-Lobos) as well as jazz (Duke's "Transbluency" and "On A Turquoise Cloud"), but Rugolo transformed the genre by translating it into the Kenton canon. The most spectacular section comes in mid-composition, as the strings soar in counter-melody above the pounding brass, but it is Christy's solo voice which adds the extra dimension, and forms an integral part of the orchestral sound. Her instrumental vocalization has a vital, distinctive timbre, almost resembling a low-pitched clarinet, crying out amidst the interplay of brass, strings and percussion. Reportedly initially intimidated by the difficulties of the composition, Christy turns in a performance which only a trained singer might have been expected to produce. With Conflict, June was never more truly the Voice of the Kenton Orchestra.

Bill Russo originally wrote Solitaire in 1948 for his Chicago-based Experiments In Jazz orchestra, when he named it "Falstaff," after a character from

Shakespeare's Henry IV. Russo related: "I took this piece and re-scored it for the Innovations Orchestra in 1950. It was Stan who changed the title to Solitaire, because the piece has a certain solitary quality. I must say I hate the name Solitaire, though in general Stan was better at titles than any of us. Stan asked me if I wanted to play it, but I declined. I think I originally had Kai Winding in mind as the soloist. Only the trombone's first chorus and closing bars were written out, the remainder being chord symbols, so the soloist could impose his own sense of jazz improvisation and structure. Milt (Bernhart) did a very fine job, and I was very pleased with the way Solitaire turned out."

Those who associate Johnny Richards exclusively with the blazing excitement of Cuban Fire and similar extravaganzas, may be surprised by the tenderness and sensitivity of Soliloquy, described as "A journey into the subconscious, illustrating the mood in a musician's mind after the noise and excitement of a concert has died, and he is left with his own reflections." Richards' career was the reverse of many of his contemporaries, since he quit a lucrative livelihood writing for motion pictures, to pursue the much more risky but rewarding vocation of a career in modern music.

Johnny's past experience made him eminently qualified to write for Innovations, and his masterly command of the full orchestra is instantly recognized in this gorgeous composition. Bud Shank's flute-work is particularly effective, especially as Bud had only recently perfected his flute technique in order to gain a place in the Innovations personnel.

Theme For Sunday was Stan's own initial contribution to the Innovations library. Harmoniously constructed for piano and strings, Kenton was quoted as saying he feared the composition would sound "Hollywoodish," and in that sense the massed strings are more conventionally employed than the band's other writers. The work is of the same genre as the 1947 "Theme To The West," and with woodwind and brass confined to background choral effects, the melodious strings dispel any suggestion of dissonance. The elegant theme was orchestrated in Kenton's own straightforward manner, graced with highly effective voicings, and features Stan's romantic piano stylings.

Amazonia could equally well have been named "Laurindo Almeida," in honor of its featured soloist, a practice adopted for several scores written slightly later in 1950. The multi-talented Brazilian also composed and orchestrated this exquisite work for strings and concert guitar, the mood generally calm and tranquil, in contrast to the dynamic passage for agitato strings leading into the up-tempo Latin section. Almeida was the most eloquent and persuasive concert guitarist the band ever employed, a major soloist on his instrument in whatever field of music he chose to perform.

No writer was better than Rugolo at blending the formal, classical aspects of Innovations with the sprit and excitement of big band jazz. On Lonesome Road, the dark, brooding mood of the introduction contrasts vividly with the up-tempo middle section and its exhilarating trumpet flights. Every now and again you know Maynard Ferguson is among the personnel. But the star is Christy, who suppresses the sexuality in her voice in favor of a classical purity of tone that is in perfect keeping with Rugolo's intentions, and almost resembles an instrumental solo. June was faultless in this very demanding role, the finest partnership of voice and orchestra that Kenton could ever have hoped to achieve.

Franklyn Marks is less well-known than Stan's other composers, though he worked for many years as a pianist/arranger in radio and dance bands, including Artie Shaw in 1936. Like his teacher Joseph Schillinger, Marks was dedicated to breaking down the traditional restrictions of classical music and he and Stan became good friends. In 1967 Marks told me he considered working for Kenton "very gratifying, and some of my best writing came out of that, but it did not make me a living. I lost touch with Stan, and in 1955 went to work for Walt Disney, where I am employed as a composer for TV and films." (Marks died in 1976.) By means of Latin rhythms and pizzicato strings, Trajectories depicts the composer's impressions as he watches a galaxy of falling stars, culminating in a fantasy as the entire heavens break loose, an experience Franklyn finds fascinating and spectacular, and in no way threatening. Marks makes exemplary use of the orchestra's wide range, with especially accomplished writing for strings and woodwinds. The restlessness and constantly changing rhythmic patterns of Trajectories are an original concept unlike that of any other Kenton composer.

"An Incident in Sound" was the original name of what came to be called Incident in Jazz, an odd change possibly prompted by Capitol, as I would have expected Kenton to find the initial title more appealing, the latter something of a compromise in its note of reassurance. Graettinger differs from Stan's other composers, who despite all the dissonance and modernity in their writing, display a sense of order and symmetry, which Graettinger spurns. Bob's work lacks a sequential pattern and regularity, is deliberately asymmetrical, making it at once more difficult to comprehend, and yet potentially more rewarding in its very unpredictability. Despite the lively theme and jaunty tempo, the atmosphere of "Incident" is never lightweight or frivolous, due to the atonal nature of Graettinger's challengingly complex orchestration. Like many of Bob's pieces, the work ends on a surprisingly tranquil note, in marked contrast to the preceding orchestral counterpoint and dissonance. "Incident in Jazz," commented down beat, "is modern music, heart-deep."

Stan's interest in fusing Afro-Cuban rhythms with big band jazz never wavered, and authenticity is assured in Cuban-born Chco O'Farrill's feature for the conga drums and fiery vocals of Carlos Vidal. Originally titled more effectively as "Cuban Fantasy," Cuban Episode is a multi-tempoed creation that unites exotic Latin rhythms with the incisive Kenton brass, in a passionate combination of the two cultures.

Exotic sounds of the Orient are sensitively explored via a bolero beat in Franklyn Marks' melodic Evening In Pakistan (or Kenton in Karachi as one wag termed it). The birth of a new dawn in a mysterious world of half-seen minarets and mosques is conjured up during the long and lovely introduction. After a lone trombone calls the faithful to prayer, the hypnotic rhythms accelerate to induce the white heat of the shimmering, mid-day sun, until slowly the shadows lengthen, and the mystique of evening settles across the land. Note the extent to which the mood throughout is determined by Marks' fascinating employment of tambourine and finger-cymbals. Capitol's Innovations producer Jim Conkling sensed the possibility of a hit single by replacing the atmospheric opening with a very simple introduction, grafted onto the main recording at the point where Bernhart's solo enters. This truncated version was released first, the full recording not becoming available until the 12 inch LP of Stan Kenton Presents in 1955.

Salute was originally titled "Salute To The Americas," and was Rugolo's contribution to Latin-American relations. Pete again demonstrates his command of the large orchestra, and his ability to compose the most compelling themes, in a stirring, emotionally-exciting flag-waver, that Stan often used as a concert-closer. In Bill Russo's opinion: "Pete Rugolo is the person I admire the most of those who wrote for the orchestra. Pete understood Stan's music perfectly, and was able to interpret Stan's requirements better than any of us. Rugolo understood things about Kenton even Kenton didn't understand!"

Co-written by Laurendo Almeida and "Peanut Vendor" composer Marion Sunshine, Mardi Gras was recorded as "Carnival Samba," and later re-titled "Playtime In Brazil." Infectiously festive and convivial, it's an oddity which featured "The Kenton Band and Their Families" chanting a wordless vocal to a catchy Latin melody. Stan explained: "It isn't music, but an attempt to capture a holiday spirit." Bud Shank told me: "The wives of the musicians were invited to the session to sing on this track. Some of them did - some of them didn't - some of them couldn't!"

Neal Hefti's In Veradero is a musical portrait, described via a lightly hypnotic Latin beat and exciting orchestral work, of a township south of the border. Less challenging than some of the more complicated scores, Hefti's tuneful melody and skillful arranging make it one of the most enjoyable, with the band humming effectively behind Bud Shank's nimble flute, and a beautiful tenor solo by the underrated Bob Cooper.

"The impact and sensation derived from feeling a powerful beat will never be dulled, nor should it be ignored," was the way Stan introduced Jolly Rogers in concert. He actually called it "An Expression From Rogers," but producer Jim Conkling persuaded Kenton a more catchy title would sell better on records, and Rogers subsequently gave his house and boat the same name. Shorty's first score for Stan is full-frontal bebop, an exuberant explosion of swinging jazz. Rugolo's artful Blues In Riff employs a more relaxed, rhythmic beat than hitherto, and both charts serve to introduce the "cool" concept of playing into the band's vocabulary, via the restrained solo stylings of Art Pepper, Bob Cooper, and Shorty Rogers. I am convinced no other percussion player could have switched so effectively from his pivotal position on the complex concert compositions, to his role as bebop jazz drummer on charts like Jolly Rogers and Blues In Riff, as the late, great Shelly Manne.

As the tour progressed, from the number of compositions for cello that were commissioned, I have no doubt that Stan fell in love with the sound of the instrument and in particular the playing of his star soloist, Gregory Bemko. When featuring a non-jazz instrument of this nature, played by a classical virtuoso, there is a very fine line between music that is virtually classical in conception and "light" music of an easy-listening category. Almeida's Cello-logy brilliantly finds that middle ground, veering towards the classical rather than the benign, but never forsaking Kenton's roots via modern writing for the strings, especially the use of jazz rhythmic patterns and devices.

During April, Ken Hanna replaced Shorty Rogers in the trumpets, while Rogers stayed in New York to enlarge the orchestra's library. Shorty told down beat: "Working with the Innovations band was one of my most valuable experiences. Stan and Pete Rugolo encouraged me to write, and the things I did were my first attempts to write for an orchestra on a larger scale. Stan had me write a composition titled Art Pepper. Art did a magnificent job on the record of it, and he remains to this day one of our greatest jazz performers." Pepper's piece was one of several Stan had in mind to feature his jazz soloists, titled simply with their names, and it is no discredit to their brilliance to observe that somehow it is always the orchestra which remains the real star. Innovations was essentially a composers' workshop, and the arranger's role nearly always prevails over even the featured solo artists.

Halls Of Brass is a tour-de-force for the Kenton horns, trumpets and trombones, one would imagine written by a trained and experienced composer, though Bill Russo is quick to point out that was not the case: "I was 22 when I wrote Halls Of Brass, schooled only in the sense that I went to the library and read a lot, and with these enormous tools of this magnificent orchestra available to me. I had not quite developed my compositional skills to the extent that I did later, and I think it extraordinary that I was able to do whatever I did. I mean, I refer to much of my music of that period as the sins of my youth. Halls Of Brass was very hard to play, and very hard to conduct, and I do think more highly of it than some of the others."

Kenton disliked understatement, and valued musicians gifted with a technique which to some might seem to border on the excessive. Maynard Ferguson was Stan's idea of trumpet heaven, and that extra bite in the trumpet section when Maynard was present is self-evident. Ferguson was presented nightly playing a Dennis Farnon score of "All The Things You Are" that he had already recorded for Capitol with Charlie Barnet in 1949, when out of the blue Jerome Kern's widow threatened to sue for damages. Capitol had to pull the record, and cabled

Kenton to stop playing the chart. Maynard's solo was a show-stopper, and Stan was frantic for a replacement. So Shorty Rogers stepped in at short notice: "I was able to write Maynard Ferguson in one day, while we were on the road. In Lincoln, Nebraska to be precise. I went to the YMCA and found a room with a piano." Ferguson's higher-than-high-note technique is graphically demonstrated in this showcase for solo trumpet (which Maynard claimed to have had a hand in creating.)

Despite the exigencies of touring, Kenton was so elated by the music of Innovations he was inspired to find the time to compose Shelly Manne, a compellingly dramatic work quite unlike Stan's usual style. Certainly far from "Hollywoodish," I would rate "Shelly Manne" as one of Stan's most satisfying compositions, on a par with "Opus In Pastels" and "Concerto To End All Concertos" (though resembling neither). Shelly was one of those musicians who really believed in what Stan was striving to achieve, as he told Melody Maker (magazine): "Stan wanted a drum feature from me. Now I have always thought that the usual drum solos are banal and tasteless. So Stan wrote "Shelly Manne," which is of course not a drum solo, but a blending of my percussion sound and ideas with the orchestral composition. I still love to swing, and I get that opportunity with the Innovations Orchestra, but I have something else besides -the chance to employ my jazz sounds in classical music. I am happier with the Kenton symphonic orchestra than I was with the Artistry band. Definitely!"

Kenton's vocal concept with Innovations was to experiment with the human voice as a wordless instrument, and elected to write June Christy himself. By using only an eight-piece rhythm backing, Stan allowed June the freedom to improvise in a less restrictive setting, and effectively demonstrates how the right singer can create a jazz mood by the very sound of her voice. The work achieves balance by opening and closing with June humming a melancholic melody backed only by Manne's timpani. A contrasting dramatic call leads into the main theme, as June sings a wide range of up-tempo vocal tones to lively Afro-rumba rhythmic patterns. "June Christy" is a completely successful display ot the instrumental use of the human voice, though ultimately the art-form itself proved capable of only limited development.

To complement Russo's "Halls Of Brass," Kenton commissioned Bob Graettinger to compose a work featuring the strings. Stan found Bob's first attempt lacking, and caused him to re-write the piece, thus no doubt putting the composer on his mettle, because Kenton told Graettinger's biographer Bob Morgan: "I was thrilled with the new House Of Strings, and from that time on, everything that Graettinger wrote I didn't contest at all, because I felt that he had arrived, and he knew what he was doing." Bob's "House" is constructed on a distinctive theme, sometimes stated but more often alluded to, around which the string families weave a discordant pattern of contrapuntal phrases. This is intellectual music, not intended to be comfortable, or easy listening. Stan loved Bob's writing, and could not understand why even many of those who accepted the rest of Innovations with enthusiasm, jibbed at Graettinger. I believe the reason may have been less the complexity of Bob's work, and more the virtual exclusion of any jazz content. But Stan loved the music's originality, as he told me: "When Bob came back with us around 1950, he had started to form his more advanced concepts of composing. It was very advanced music, as you know, and the average person can't take too much of it. The critics accused him of being an avid Arnold Schoenberg devotee, and he wasn't at all, he didn't even know about Schoenberg. Graettinger was dedicated to his music, and I was very fond of the things he wrote."

Musically a greater success than even Kenton could have envisaged, financially Stan lost a packet on Innovations I. Frequently sold out in the big cities, in smaller towns audiences were often sparse, and the costs of transporting and maintaining so large an orchestra were prodigious. Stan was forced to re-form with a touring dance band to recoup some of his losses, but against all advice, determined to keep faith with his fans (and perhaps himself) with a second Innovations tour, though this was deferred until the Fall of 1951.

Shorty Rogers remained one of Kenton's most popular composers, and his Round Robin started life as a jazz chart for the inter-Innovations "dance" orchestra. It's a swinging showcase for the band's new brand of under-stated soloists - Rogers, Cooper and Pepper in that order. In 1951, Shorty re-scored his theme as a title-feature for Conte Condoli on the second Innovations tour. Immediately preceding the second tour in September, 1951, Capitol recorded two new Rogers titles by the jazz nucleus of Innovations, without the strings. Coop's Solo (a.k.a. "Bob Cooper") is a companion piece to "Art Pepper." Bob's beautiful tone was perhaps his greatest asset, again comparable to Art, and it's worth noting that almost two years on, the saxophone section remained identical to Innovations I. Artistry in Durability! When Coop performed this solo feature at a London concert in 1991, he followed the score throughout, as must all the soloists on these complicated concert charts.

Sambo is one of Shorty's most original and exciting excursions into Latin territory, the title's a combination of "samba" and "mambo," the music a fusion of Brazil's most popular dance rhythms with Kenton jazz. It's an electrifying performance, one of those super-charged swingers that never subsides, with Ferguson's trumpet soaring above the ensemble, and the rhythm animated by Manne's percussion work.

The final four tracks on the Capitol's two-CD Innovations set released in 1997 come from a public concert at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, in October, 1951, and the CD presents them in the same order as played in this concert. Ennui is on the same lines as Russo's "Solitaire," a lovely melody beautifully articulated by soloist Harry Betts, though in Russo's words: "I picked some terrible titles, and I do wish Stan could have dissuaded me from using Ennui, which had nothing to do with the composition at all." Strictly speaking, Bill is right of course, but less literally the work's laid-back, low-key quality makes the slightly enigmatic Ennui a fitting sobriquet.

Manny Albam's Samana stems from the torrid pulse of Cuban music, and opens with percussive trombone effects similar to those devised by Albam for Charlie Barnet's "Pan-Americana." It's a pity Art Pepper wasn't playing into the recording mike, but the orchestra's enthusiasm more than compensated in a tension-building arrangement that never let up until the explosive finale. Samana remains one of the most effective of Kenton's pioneering performances successfully uniting the indigenous music of the two Americas.

Coop's Solo employed the strings to introduce this longer, concert version of the Rogers composition. Cooper comes on strong, playing with great confidence and authority, though I wish the slow, opening movement could have been extended to allow more of Bob's poetic lyricism on the tenor saxophone.

The closing Salute, repeated from the first session, may not have quite the perfect recording balance attained in the studio, but the playing benefits from the familiarity of nightly performances. The spirit of Spain is vividly captured in this fiery, assertive interpretation that surpasses even the original version. The roar of applause at the end is a "salute" to Stan Kenton which we echo almost 50 years after the event.

The studio recordings by the full 1951 Innovations Orchestra were Bob Graettinger's "City of Glass" in three movements, made in December at the end of the tour and are available on Capitol CDP 8 32084 2, "Stan Kenton Plays Bob Graettinger," a complete collection of every Kenton/Graettinger Capitol recording, and virtually Innovations Volume III. It follows chronologically as a logical extension of the Capitol 2-CD Innovations set, and is essential listening for every Kenton devotee.

The influence of Innovations was far-reaching. Alumni impressed by Kenton's musical philosophy dominated the significant West Coast jazz movement throughout the coming decade, and solo improvisations on instruments unfamiliar to jazz flourished - French horn, flute, oboe, cello. Would there have been a Fred Katz without a Gregory Bemko? Stan always maintained that his music was distinct and separate from the Third Stream school, but at the very least they were close allies, and the movement gained undeniable impetus and impact from the Kenton experience.

But the recordings are the most enduring legacy of the Innovations adventure. Seldom if ever can such a quixotic enterprise have produced such a tangible record of original, creative music. Kenton himself reflected: "It was sort of a noble failure - I lost about $250,000 in less than two years. But the Innovations Orchestra was a great thing artistically, and to this day I think it was one of the highlights of my career as a band leader."

Maynard Ferguson had no doubts: "Stan was always experimenting - he never stood still. Maybe he didn't always go in the direction people wanted, but at least he set out to do what he wanted to do. He had the integrity of his own musical beliefs."

But allow a prophetic Shelly Manne the final endorsement: "I believe sincerely in Stan's musical outlook, and what he is doing. The best of the Innovations music will set a pattern for the future."

... .Michael Sparke London, July, 1997.”