Search - Stan Kenton :: Kenton '76

The Perfect Defintion of the Jazz Genre

froggyscreamer1 | Ashland, OH | 01/04/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is by far the Kenton orchestra's finest performance. Throughout the album they play so well, tighter that any other performance I've ever heard. Time For a Change is done masterfully, never shaky on the measurely changes between 9/8 and 3/4 time. Stan's piano solos on the Sondheim classic Send In The Clowns along with John Harner's beautiful screaming sound at the end sum up the most precise jazz performance of this song. Tiburon features the incredible be-bop solos of Tim Hagans as well as the stylistic flexibility of the whole band. My Funny Valentine is probably the finest ballad to feature a trombone section in, and Kenton's Bones really take the cake when it comes to lyrical play. Decoupage has long been my favorite song. The trumpets and trombones are stellar behind the solos of Terry Layne and Tim Hagans. The best bari solo I've ever heard consumes nearly all of A Smtih Named Greg, which was specially written by Hank Levy to suit his personal soloing style. What can be said about Samba de Haps? I mean, what more could you ask for in a burner chart? You've got trumpets screaming up to DD's, a tight, solid, fast rhythm section, and a brass ensemble that would destroy even a combo of Maynard Ferguson's and Arturo Sandoval's combined! Overall the best Kenton album, and , very arguibly, the best Jazz album in availability. If only I could have seen a show of the Kenton '76 tour!"

Stan's later years

Kevin Arney | Miami Beach, FL | 12/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Kenton's band was - and always will be - the epitome of hard-driving big band jazz. This album, with its outstanding, melodic phrases worked into uncommon time signatures, is, as was much of Kenton's work, a pioneering effort and much-deserving of recognition as such. It is unfortunate that Stan became so consumed with re-mastering the band's recordings in his later years, i.e., a mic on every instrument, fed into a multi-track mixing board and nuanced to the nth degree, because the incomparable experience of being knocked over by the live sound of the band is taken away by the meddling. Just one overhead mic, maybe two, would have captured the Kenton sound oh so much nicer (akin to the recordings of the Kenton ensembles from the mid-50's). But 'nuff said about the technical processes. I've played "Send in the Clowns" for my kids, just to watch their mouths drop open at the trumpet solo, and "Decoupage" for my thirteen-year-old daughter (a fledgling trombonist), to open her ears beyond middle-school stock arrangements. My dad is a Kenton fan, I'm a Kenton fan, my girlfriend (almost unbelievably) is a Kenton fan, and, with Stan's prolific output, I'm hoping our numbers will only grow. Sadly, there will never be such a band again."

I was blessed...

Raul Enriquez | Laredo, TX | 01/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In 1977 I was blessed with being a member of the Fallbrook Union High School Jazz group when the band director took us to Torrey Pines to attend a Stan Kenton Clinic. I was only 16 and had really never heard of him. What an experience. After giving us a short concert, the band split into different instrument sections to give seperate lectures on each instrument. That was just the afternoon. In the evening, the concert began and I got to see each of these songs being played in person. You can just imagine the joy. The whole Kenton 76 album being performed in concert. The only other concert I can equal it to is the one I saw the following year of Count Basie and his orchestra performing his Straight Ahead album. I even shook hands with both of them



I have both the original 33 album and the CD version of each.



Blessed indeed :)"