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Stan Kenton - Back To Balboa (1957)
By 1957, the Big Band Era was pretty well over. Fortunately pianist Stan
Kenton never got the message. In fact, he continued to tour with
various aggregations well into the ‘70s, ultimately laying the
groundwork for modern jazz education with school performances and clinics.
While the handwriting may have
been on the wall in the late ‘50s, there was still a large segment of
the listening public that, having grown up on big bands, still loved the
sound of a roaring brass section and tightly arranged saxophones. Stan
Kenton offered them that, with the emphassis on the roaring. Capitol
Records was still very much the purveyer of what could best be termed
"adult popular music,” having not yet struck gold in the teen market with the Beatles and the Beach Boys. The grist for their mill was Frank Sinatra, Nat Cole, and of course, Stan Kenton.
Kenton’s Back to Balboa is the documentation of a brief but unprofitable
residence at the Rendevous Ballroom in Balboa, California in the winter
of ‘57-'58. It shows the band in typical form, with fine arrangements
by Johnny Richards, Marty Paich and Bill Holman. As always, the section
men and soloists are first rate. One need only look at the personnel of
this album to realize the caliber of Kenton’s players. Tenor
saxophonists Bill Perkins and Richie Kamuca and alto saxophonist Lennie Niehaus contribute fine solos, as does trumpeter Sam Noto.
The album is rich in Latin rhythms, with Cuban-themed charts that Kenton
loved to feature. Richards turns "Out of this World” and "Speak Low”
into numbers worthy of old Havana.
A Kenton brass section could not only break glass, it could melt steel
as well. You occasionally get samples of that on this album. In fact, if
you want to hear where trumpeter Maynard Ferguson got the inspiration
for his big bands, you need go no further than his former employer,
Kenton.
Personnel: Jim Amlotte (trombone) Bill Catalano (trumpet) Jules Chaiken (trumpet) Jimmy Deckker (french horn) Vincent DeRosa - french horn) Bob Fitzpatrick (trombone) Phil Gilbert (trumpet) Lee Katzman (trumpet) Richie Kamuca (saxophone) Joe "Red" Kelly (bass) Stan Kenton (piano) Kent Larsen (trombone) Archie LeCoQue (trombone) Jerry McKenzie (drums) Stephen Perlow (saxophone) Bill Perkins (saxophone) Lennie Niehaus (saxophone) Sam Noto (trumpet) Don Reed (trombone) Kenny
Shroyer (trombone) Tracklist: 01. The Big Chase (Paich) 4.17
02. Rendezvous at Sunset (Richards) 4.17
03. Speak Low (Nash/Weill) 3.28
04. My Old Flame (Coslow/Johnston) 4.02
05. Out of This World (Arlen/Mercer) 5.44
06. Begin the Beguine (Porter) 3.41
07. Get Out of Town (Porter) 2.38
08. Royal Blue (Holman) 5.52
09. I Concentrate on You (Porter) 3.21
10. Beyond the Blue Horizon (Harling/Robin/Whiting) 3.35
11. Two Shades of Autumn (Coccia) 3.54
12. Love Letters (Heyman/Young) 2.26
13. Desiderata (Coccia) 3.11
14. Artistry in Blues (Kenton) 2.45
