© Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.
I'm learning as I'm going, but fortunately with the help of many Kenton specialists, a decent bibliography-discography and the availability of many interviews with musicians who were on the band during this period, I'll develop a broader understanding and appreciation of Kenton 70's music to share with you in these continuing features on the subject. Along the way, I'll also share my "take" based on what I hear in the music from the last decade of Stan's "creative" journey in the world of big band Jazz.
In this regard, I wonder what influence the Don Ellis Bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s may have had on Kenton music during these later years?
Before delving more closely into the bands and recordings from the decade of the 1970s, let’s step back and trace the developments that led to the launching of The Creative World of Stan Kenton, itself.
With today’s compression, digitalization and self-production/self-publishing techniques, not to mention audio file sharing, the following may read like something from a science fiction novel, but it was really a big deal for those times. It’s a fascinating tale of what the recording world was like for a renowned Jazz musician 50 years ago.
The following excerpts from Dr. William F. Lee’s Stan Kenton: Artistry in Rhythm [1994] comes at this subject from a number of perspectives and a variety of sources. Collectively they are probably the most detailed description of all aspects of the early origins of The Creative World of Stan Kenton in publication. The take-away from this is that we are talking about much more than just a record label.
Creative World
“I have long felt the need to reach those of you vitally interested in the music and activities of The Kenton Orchestra. Right now - because of our exciting plans for the future - I feel that need more strongly than ever . . . and that is why The Creative World of Stan Kenton has been formed - a new organization, a new means of linking the Kenton Orchestra and its fans.”
- Stan Kenton
“The Creative World of Stan Kenton came into being in 1960, to offset the lack of promotional interest by the record companies. Although originally designed to alleviate the sagging record-sales situation, it also achieved considerable success in promoting Stan Kenton as a man, creative artist and band leader, and the activities of the band.
Before this active merchandising campaign, the Kenton album promotions were restricted to consumer ads. The half-page on which they appeared was shared with at least four other artists, and was a one-shot promotion. In 1962, purchasers of Kenton albums found an invitation on the dust sleeves to join a new "club", and receive a newsletter published monthly with detailed information on the band's activities and, of course, advance notices of new releases.
As a first step, the new campaign set out to familiarize the public with the mellophonium, and with the band. Blowups of the mellophonium, with copy explaining its origin and the reason why Kenton was using it, were made up by publicity man Noel Wedder. Six feet high, these displays were placed in the lobbies of concert and dance halls where the band played, and were backed up by a 16-page program, entitled simply "Stan Kenton Orchestra."
It had a photo of the mellophonium on the first page and was otherwise devoted to Kenton and his band: photos of recording sessions and rehearsals, and stories on the band's activities. The very last page had a list of Kenton records, and the selections played at the concerts.
An important part of the book was the back cover, where there was a coupon and an invitation to join the Creative World of Stan Kenton. Once the Kenton organization received the coupon - one was also printed on every dust sleeve as well as on the program - it knew it had reached a consumer who was definitely interested in keeping abreast of its many creative activities.
Registered fans were officially welcomed by the receipt of a personalized card and the newsletter. The latter, in addition to information concerning the band's activities, gave a list of all records. As a method of informing audiences about new releases, it proved very effective. The newsletter announced records three months before they were on the market, or at about the time their production started. This meant that by inquiries received, Kenton could accurately gauge how sales would go within royalty periods. Besides selling records, it also helped to determine which particular album would be the most successful in a given period.
Interest in the newsletter was so high that Kenton and his staff queried the readers as to what they felt should be the next musical venture. For instance, after the success of West Side Story, it was thought that they should try another musical, and a recording with Tex Ritter. Reader response to both ideas was favorable.
With its sales picture looking good, the orchestra felt it had broken the stigma long associated with being a big brass-oriented band. It found that it could utilize material other than jazz without changing the basic character of the orchestra, and for that reason it created a new library of music valued at $245,000. [About $2,210,433 today].
The members of the Creative World were quite diversified. They came from all walks of life and all ages. Perhaps the largest age group was between 25 and 35 and mostly professionals: doctors, dentists, lawyers, architects, engineers, actors and writers.
Kenton felt the public was definitely buying more of his records as a result of the advance information. He said proof of this was the success of a ballad album, The Sophisticated Approach of Stan Kenton, released on March 5,1962, which sold 27,000 copies. Over-all sales increased 32 per cent, and doubled within six months. Bookings for concerts, nightclub and TV appearances, and dances increased 25 percent and brought the band such choice dates across the U.S. as Basin Street East in New York, the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, and TV's Ed Sullivan Show.
In addition to the Creative World of Stan Kenton, which was aimed at the record buyer, there was a heavy publicity campaign aimed at every jazz and music editor in the U.S. and Canada. Copies of new albums were sent to key disc jockeys in radio stations across the country. The campaign as a whole served to enhance Stan Kenton's image as a creative man, and was only one of the vehicles he used to maintain that image.
By the late '60s Kenton had become disenchanted with Capitol Records and hammered out an agreement with them to establish his own record label. Ralph J. Gleason reported on this activity on Friday, January 9, 1970, in the San Francisco Chronicle:
KENTON'S SIGNIFICANT RECORD COMPANY
Stan Kenton is a musician who has developed a strong personal following, almost a cult, over the years and the Kenton people support and continue to support his music.
Now Kenton has just formed his own record label which he will use to sell Kenton albums from the Capitol catalogue back over the years. About half a dozen are being planned for release in the first six months of this year.
What Kenton is doing is going to be watched very closely by many people in the record business. If it works for him, it is going to be tried by other artists who have special followings. At least one other major artist is currently planning a mail order record business which would eliminate both the regular manufacturer and the middleman wholesaler . . .
The following day, January 10, Billboard gave even more information:
KENTON FORMS LABEL TO SELL MASTERS LEASED FROM
CAPITOL
Los Angeles - Stan Kenton has formed his own record label to sell via mail order his catalog masters leased from Capitol. The Creative World of Stan Kenton is the company name upon which the bandleader is offering albums which Capitol no longer stocks.
Three weeks ago, Kenton made available his first seven titles. Six more are planned in about three months. Of the 60 albums Kenton has recorded for Capitol since joining the roster in 1943, he feels 30 are of prime interest to educators and jazz buffs.
He pays Capitol a royalty on any product he sells via direct mail. Capitol's custom department presses the albums for him and he charges $5.50 per title. . .
By January 13, 1970, newspapers such as the Jackson Daily News, and The Cincinnati Enquirer brought different versions of the same story to their constituents:
KENTON SELLS OWN
In an unusual marketing move, one of the most innovative of the big bandsmen of 20 years ago has announced something called "The Creative World of Stan Kenton," through which he will offer, by mail order, selections of his Capitol masters which are no longer available. Mr. Kenton gives two reasons: rack jobbers are not interested in stocking product not catering to mass tastes and two, he has been receiving letters "from people all over the world" asking about availability of his LP's. . .
'CREATIVE WORLD' ALBUMS ISSUED TO PLACATE STAN'S DISAPPOINTED FANS
In my most recent chat with Stan Kenton - it was when he last appeared with his band at the Living Room, downtown - he talked at length about his recordings. Loyal Kentonites (he told me) had complained of the difficulty of getting hold of his earlier recordings; "rack jobbers" (as they are called) simply stopped stocking Stan Kenton items. . .
I have always admired Stan Kenton for his refusal to gallop off in all directions after the latest popular music fads. I was proud to be called a "Kenton fan" even though I spent, and still spend, 95 percent of my time listening to and writing about "serious" (so-called) music. Yet, no one is more serious about his role in music dom than Stan. He calls his music "jazz with dimension. .. music that I feel is an oasis in a wasteland of mass musical conformity.". . .
After eight months of maintaining his own record label with Capitol, Kenton made the decision to break away and form his own company, Creative World Records. Stan's public relations firm, JoeX. Price Associates, made the announcement in a news release dated September 21, 1970:
KENTON QUITS CAPITOL AFTER 27 YEARS; FORMS CREATIVE
WORLD RECORDS
In a protest move spurred by Capitol Records' failure to promote jazz among an estimated 1,000,000 devotees in this country alone, Stan Kenton has left the label with which he has been associated since 1943. Capitol was just a year old when Kenton cut his first four sides ("Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me," "Eager Beaver," his theme, "Artistry In Rhythm" and "Harlem Folk Dance") on Nov. 19, 1943.
In the 27 years Kenton has been with the label, he has etched 47 albums, beginning with "Artistry In Rhythm" and ending with "Hair" which he recorded late in 1969.
On severing his contractual ties with Capitol Records, Kenton issued a statement in which he noted he had exited the label "because of the company's lack of interest in and ability to promote my style of music. There are at least a million jazz buffs in this country but their tastes are bypassed by companies who cater to the rack jobbers who control the industry. They (the rack jobbers) tell the manufacturers what they want to sell and what records they want to handle. Capitol succumbed to their control, as did every other record company I can think of.
"We have some inkling of the tastes of the masses," said Kenton, who simultaneously announced the reorganization of his own production company, Creative World of Stan Kenton, and the formation of a new diskery adjunct, Creative World Records, through which he intends to fight the "control by rack jobbers" by producing and distributing his own product. Initially, distribution will be solely by mail order.
In addition to Kenton who is president of Creative World, Clint Roemer has been named vice president-secretary and Harold Plant is treasurer.
Before departing Los Angeles for a three-month tour of the U.S. and Europe, Kenton last week put finishing touches to his first CWLP which is now being pressed and which will be ready for distribution in October. Kenton's first stop in the tour was Albuquerque, New Mexico. He and his 19-piece orchestra are scheduled to return to the Los Angeles homebase on December 15.
Kenton has noted during all of his previous tours that jazz buffs are eager to listen to and absorb his style of music. Thousands have given him their names and addresses for two reasons. First, because they are Kenton fans and second, because they felt it was a link with the jazz world. These thousands of names will now be receiving announcements about the "list" available via Creative World, Inc. whose address is Box 35216, Los Angeles 90035.
AUDREE COKE: Creative World's mailing list today totals almost 100,000 names of fans of Stan Kenton and of big band jazz. The most successful promotion we ever did was through the little Creative World magazine — until postage costs became exorbitant.
On September 25, 1970, Variety picked up the story and
released it this way:
STAN KENTON SPINS OFF CAP WAX AFTER 27 YRS DISGRUNTLED
Stan Kenton, bypassed lately because of the current trend by waxeries to exploit only those pop disks which loom quick sellers, has departed Capitol after 27 years to form his own Creative World Records. First album will be "Live At Redlands U," to be sold mostly through mail orders.
Kenton, just before leaving with his orch on a one-nighter tour, explained the big reason for exiting Cap was "lack of interest in and ability to promote my style of music. . ."
In his years at Cap, Kenton turned out 47 albums. Finale was his version of the "Hair" score last year. . .
The Hollywood Reporter told of the separation and newly-founded company on the same day:
KENTON ANGRY WITH CAPITOL; ON HIS OWN
Stan Kenton has severed his Capitol Records ties, simultaneously blasting the label for "its lack of interest in and ability to promote my style of music," and announced reorganization of his production and distribution companies.
"There are at least a million jazz buffs in this country but their tastes are bypassed by companies who cater to the rack jobbers who control the industry," Kenton charged. . .
He named Clint Roemer v-p and secretary of Creative World and Harold Plant treasurer.
By May 29, 1971, the word had gotten to Europe and was spread in England's Melody Maker:
CREATIVE STAN
So it's not just the young Turks who need to set up their own record labels in order to get their music heard. Even the venerable Stan Kenton has been backed into the same pen.
Apparently thwarted by Capitol, with whom he's been associated for more years then I've been alive, Kenton has procured all his old masters and has set up an organization called The Creative World of Stan Kenton (which exists as a kind of record club) to produce and sell through the mail Stan's records. . .
Don Lass discussed the Kenton determination in The Asbury Park Sunday Press on June 6, 1971:
THE CREATIVE WORLD
The Kenton Years: Stan Kenton has been making music for the masses since the war years. His bands have rivaled Ellington's as the most progressive in jazz, from the "artistry" sounds, through "innovations," "progressive jazz," and the Neophonic experiment to the current assemblage that is helping bring big jazz bands back to prominence. As Harvey Siders said in a recent downbeat article, "Kenton's bands have gone through more changes than a maternity ward."
But Kenton has been tragically overlooked at many points of his long career, which has been the fate of most great band leaders. In the main it's because of the nature of the recording business, the notorious rack jobbers, the archaic copyright laws, and the lack of promotion on the part of the record companies. Kenton has fought hard for the rights of the creative musician.
His aim is to reach young America with good music and he has become a crusader, battling great odds. His recent success is turning heads.
Kenton is fighting the battle on his own. Last year he severed ties with Capitol records, for which he had made over 50 albums since 1943, and started his own label, Creative World Records, which is releasing the Capitol masters and bringing new Kenton sounds to a new generation of listeners. It is the first major move of its kind by an established leader and it is being done strictly by mail order. . .
AUDREE COKE: Mart Sahl, who sincerely loved and admired Stanley, also enjoyed kidding him. When Creative World was formed, there was a great deal of publicity about it. Mort, in the staccato Sahl fashion, immediately began telling his audiences: "When Stan Kenton spills his cup of coffee, he doesn't say, 'Somebody help me clean this up.' He says, 'Look, I have created a mess!'"
A superlative review of one of Creative World's early recordings was printed in the Stereo Review in August, 1971:
RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT
Stan Kenton: Live At Redlands University
Performance: Mighty Recording: Good
Something wonderful is happening in the record industry. The great talents, fed up with the dung shoveled at them from the major companies, are forming their own labels. Rod McKuen has already done this, and now Stan Kenton is not only recording new and exhilarating albums for people who do not think jazz is dead, but has also acquired rights to all of the out-of-print back issues of his recordings on the Capitol label for reissue on his own label, called the Creative World of Stan Kenton. These recordings have never sounded fresher, nor have been more welcome to tired ears. So far Stan has amassed a list. . . of twenty-one albums now offered to jazz collectors, albums that were previously only lamented memories of greatness. . .
Kenton's company, like the man himself, was prone to innovation. An article in Billboard on October 9, 1971 announced Creative World's move into quadraphonic recording:
KENTON LINE IN 4-CHANNEL BOW
Los Angeles - Creative World, Stan Kenton's label which distributes by direct mail and through a group of select retailers, will release its first 4-channel two-LP album in November, probably priced at $9.50, according to Clint Roemer, sales chief. The LP will probably be the first "live" discrete quadrasonic recording to hit the market, having been recorded during a five-hour free concert by the Kenton band at Dion Hall on the Brigham Young university campus, Provo, Utah. The concert was the highlight of the fifth annual Audio Recording Seminar, staged by the Electronic/Media department of the school. Bill Putnam of United Recording Corp., using equipment of the school, recorded the concert, while John Heal of Glen Glenn mixed. The LP will also be released in matrix. . .
AUDREE COKE: Creative World's best selling albums, in declining order, are KENTON ‘76 (CWST-1076), 7.5 ON THE RICHTER SCALE (CWST-1077), HITS IN CONCERT(CWST-1074), and FIRE, FURY AND FUN (CW ST-1073).
“After seventeen months of Creative World operations, Kenton reviewed the progress of the company in "A Message From Stan" in the February, 1972 issue of the Creative World Magazine:
Since the first communique from the Creative World was put into the mail some eighteen months ago, our membership has expanded to more than twenty times its original size.
Because of the band's constant activity during this period of time, I have had the opportunity to come into contact with great numbers of people, not only you of the Creative World, but also members of the press, radio and television mediums. All have shown great concern for the future of this unique organization. These meetings have rewarded me with the reassurance that my original concepts of the need for the Creative World were and still are valid.
Specifically, there are people all over the world who are searching for experiences within music which transcend the simple tastes of the masses. These same persons are involved in our activities to the extent that a great many travel far distances to be present at the band's personal appearances.
The mail pouring into our office expresses satisfaction for what we are creating. The effort you have put forth to interest others in the Creative World by sending us names and addresses to be added to the mailing list is heartening. The response by the purchase of albums made available through Creative World makes it possible for us to move ahead by investing in more good music, new as well as old. The achievements of the orchestra in the past eighteen months in recordings, the field of music education and public performances of many types could not have been possible without all my friends - you who have supported the Creative World.
I believe it is time that I came to honest terms with the Creative World in regard to its relationship to myself and my goals. In truth, your support cannot really be measured. I sincerely believe that the orchestra, its existence and success are the result of your efforts more than my own.”
The National Observer, on March 4, 1972, printed a story by Robert Ostermann regarding the general dearth of recording opportunities for jazz musicians:
SPURNED BY STORES, JAZZMEN SELL DISCS BY MAIL
Dizzy Gillespie is a giant of jazz, but he's currently without a recording contract.
He's not alone. As the jazz market has shrunk, record companies have limited their production of the music. And when the companies do cut a jazz album, most distributors stock only a few copies or none at all. Even the work of such notable performers as Miles Davis is hard to find in many stores.
Result: a few stubborn entrepreneurs - some of them musicians, some of them producers-are attempting to find the jazz audience through direct-mail selling.
Pianist-bandleader Stan Kenton is among the most
determined. . .
A rather lengthy article by Kenton discussing the jazz market appeared in the Music Journal in May, 1972:
CONTROL YOUR PRODUCT
. . . The rapid success of the Creative World over the past two years has proven the original theory that a market does exist for something other than current selections being foisted on a passive public by the selling agents.
However minor the jazz market may be in terms of monetary potential, it is our belief that this need must be filled, so that the educated, mature audiences will continue to be provided with the enjoyment they seek.
Harvey Steinman waxed enthusiastic about the new release in The Miami Herald on Sunday, May 14, 1972:
KENTON'S 'MAIL ORDER' RECORDS ARE A MUST FOR JAZZ COLLECTOR
Unless the proprietor of your favorite record shop has some dusty old copies floating around, the only way you can get a Stan Kenton record nowadays is by mail. . .
All this by way of introducing two outstanding contributions to jazz recording literature: Stan Kenton Live at Redlands University and Stan Kenton Live at Brigham Young University, doubtless the finest of recordings of the best of Kenton's current band. And the only way to get them is by mail.
By 1973, The Creative World of Stan Kenton was firmly established as expressed on April 20 by Tom Murtha in the Minneapolis Star.
GOOD FRIENDS GET TOGETHER: KENTON'S BAND, ITS
FOLLOWING
. . . Kenton's recently revitalized and fast-growing following feels a special kinship to the 61-year-old iconoclast who abandoned conventional record companies about two years ago to form his own mail-order organization, "The Creative World of Stan Kenton."
