Stan Kenton: This Is an Orchestra!

18. Standards in Silhouette (1958-1959)

151 18. Standards in Silhouette (1958–1959) Stan did what he always did when the going got rough: he set about writing himself a hit record, though by 1958 it had to be an LP rather than a single. His first thought was to repeat the success of “September Song” with an album of band vocals, but after a couple of sessions Lee Gillette must have pointed out that while a single song might have made it in 1951, the monotony of 12 band vocals in succession was not going to hit anyone’s jackpot. So Stan tried repeating an even earlier success with a saxes and rhythm album, but the magic was missing. The music dragged, and in the Seventies Clinton Roemer rejected the tracks for Creative World release, noting, “These titles are very weak in comparison with the 1941 saxophone numbers.”1 In Kenton’s case it was third time lucky, though even that nearly went awry. He wrote a dozen quality arrangements of standard ballads for the full orchestra, emphasizing trombone section soli, which nearly fell apart on the first session. As written, the lead trombone didn’t solo as such, but he did feature the melody while the other trombones played sustained harmony underneath. “Kent Larsen was playing lead,” related Jim Amlotte, “and he couldn’t make it all the way through the first number—it was just clam after clam. The guys in the section had to play it over and over, and pretty soon nerves started coming apart. So Archie and I both tried the lead part, and we both clammed, and Archie’s a fabulous player, but he hadn’t played for several days and wasn’t up to it. So when Stan saw that none of us could make it, he got into a huddle with Lee Gillette in the booth, and decided to play the lead on piano himself, with the trombones playing underneath him. And after that the whole album was done that way.” The LP wasn’t intended to be jazz; it was meant to have wide appeal to a broad audience, and it succeeded in its intention to make money, both for Kenton and for Capitol. But most listeners will be unaware of the circumstances under which the album was made, and will judge the 152 Stan Kenton: This Is an Orchestra! music on its merits alone. Each arrangement on its own is a gem, but the writing is formulaic, so that after several tracks the titles all seem to merge together into bland repetition. The music screams out for improvised solos to relieve the tedium, and give the titles individual identity, but there are none. Live audiences often fared better, for Stan would often surrender his piano spots, to Niehaus on “End of a Love Affair,” LeCoque on “Early Autumn,” or Rolf Ericson on “How Deep Is the Ocean.” With an obvious debt to Shakespeare, Capitol publicized The Ballad Style of Stan Kenton as “The Taming of the Crew,” a tag that must have met with Stan’s approval. Whether or not his hard-core fans wanted the music “tamed,” Kenton was certainly pleased. The writing was in no way demeaning, yet both the scores and his piano playing had been accepted by the general public, and Stan thereafter termed himself a “romantic writer.” I remember discussing Ballad Style with a long-term fan who defended the album, but rather spoiled his case by adding, “It makes excellent background music during dinner-time conversation.” Stan was of course adapting to current conditions in the pop music business, but “background music” had never been what Kenton was all about. Ballad Style set a trend for the next dozen years, insofar as Kenton was often forced to make his music more lyrical, and rarely included jazz solos in his own writing. I asked Jim Amlotte for his observations: “My feeling is that Stan omitted horn solos for commercial reasons, and the color of just one solo piano. Stan needed the exposure, though he always got the frights when he had to record, even the one-finger things. On the road he often used one of the jazz soloists in place of piano, and you could do that at a dance, rather than put it on tape and sell it commercially. I think the concept came from Gillette, who really gave Stan good advice to help maintain his progressive image, but don’t get too far out—let’s make...