Stan Kenton: This Is an Orchestra!

6. The Arrival of Rugolo (1946)

43 6. The Arrival of Rugolo (1946) Not all long engagements were as welcome as the Hollywood Palladium. There, the band might get day-calls for rehearsals, recording , filming or benefits, but mostly the work was at night. Theatre dates were another matter. In a routine exclusive to the USA, at theatres the band performances alternated with a film throughout the day, as Stan recalled: “The theatres were awfully hard work. We used to do between 5 and 7 shows a day, and the pay was good, but it was just too difficult physically. We worked the Paramount several times, and the first show went on before 9, and the last show got off at 1 a.m., so it was less than 8 hours between the time we finished and the time we had to be back on stage blowing again.”1 The sheer monotony of waiting around between shows, with no opportunity to leave the theatre for any length of time, did have one positive result for Ray Wetzel, who came up with an idea for a catchy tune that he appropriately called “Intermission Riff.” Many writers have pointed out that the theme is identical to a riff used just once near the start of “Yard Dog Mazurka,” a 1941 Gerald Wilson composition for Jimmie Lunceford. I have no knowledge of Wetzel ever being queried about this, but in any case, Wilson discards it after a single statement, so that in “Mazurka” it remains undeveloped. Al Anthony recalled, “Between shows at the Paramount Theatre in New York, Wetzel and the guys would blow to get their chops in shape. Wetzel got a riff going, and a few days later a few trombones joined in. Boots came up with a reed counter-melody, and over the weeks we kept adding and adding, all head stuff, and voila! We had a great chart that we played on shows and finally recorded.”2 Readily recognizable, and a great vehicle for ever-changing solo improvisations, “Intermission Riff” became an essential part of the Kenton Experience from that day onward. It remained in the book to the very end, and is rightly revered by Stan’s fans as a classic. 44 Stan Kenton: This Is an Orchestra! A more formal score by Kenton himself that never received its proper acclaim was Stan’s 1943 arrangement of the evergreen “More Than You Know.” Frequently updated during the Forties (lastly in the summer of 1947 for the Progressive Jazz debut), the chart was not flashy enough to generate excitement, and was never issued commercially until Capitol appropriated it from their Transcription label. Cut in July 1946, this version proceeds directly from the piano/bass introduction into a saxophone soli movement of such authority it remains a living testament to Kenton’s writing ability and Al Anthony’s alto expertise. Wetzel plays a perfectly straight trumpet solo before the big orchestral conclusion to a musical experience of outstanding poise and beauty. But Kenton’s charts were not sufficient on their own. Every band needs variety, and in early 1946 Gene Roland supplied that demand. Surprisingly , Stan failed to plug Gene’s inventive arrangement of Mel Torme’s sophisticated modern-blues song “Four Months, Three Weeks, Two Days, One Hour Blues,” despite Christy’s gorgeous performance. Gene’s is a bopinfluenced chart that features a spectacular trumpet riff not unlike that heard on Dizzy Gillespie’s “Good Dues Blues,” though Gil Fuller’s arrangement for Musicraft was not recorded till five months later, so Roland may well have been the originator. Whatever, bop did not turn Kenton on, which may be why “Four Months Blues” received so little exposure. The Capitol rendition is the only recording I am aware of. When Roland was around the band, he invariably got the itch to play. “Gene first showed up in 1944, when the drugs problem wasn’t quite as serious, or Stan wouldn’t have used him,” observed Milt Bernhart . “Gene was talented, and Stan recognized that and went for it. And Roland was able and resourceful; he played in the trumpet section in 1944, and in 1946 he produced a valve trombone and they put him in the trombone section.”3 Buddy Childers’ assessment of that situation was less than generous: “Gene was very gifted, but he was a real pain. He kept insinuating himself into the different sections, but he never played with the sections. He just messed things up.”4 In 1946, Kenton was planning his...