Junk Box Jury

“Sunny” taken from the album ‘The World We Know’ (Capitol ST 2810) 1967

Stan Kenton | The World We Know | (Capitol) | A Word About The Man and His Music:

This expressive collection of contemporary music — the newest statement from Kenton — vividly captures the various levels of excitement synonymous with Stan Kenton and his Orchestra.

To each superb melody, Stan has added his own distinctive touch. Each arrangement, complemented by his probing piano lines, evokes a wide range of emotion. From the intimately sad “A Man and a Woman” to the lighthearted “Girl Talk,” Stan deftly fashions an album filled with bright, swirling tonal colours.

“The World We Knew” illustrates Stan’s masterful capabilities for fusing together stunning combinations of brass, reeds and rhythm. His carefully-paced ensemble statements, richly overlaid across haunting harmonic patterns, suspend in time the magic of two people in love.

The pastel moods of “Theme for Jo” were written for his wife early last winter. This serene ballad is a perfect example of Kenton’s ability to set a happy event to music — in this instance, an unforgettable holiday along the Southern California coastline.

“This Hotel,” “Invitation,” and “Changing Times,” differing dramatically in tempo and texture, offer memorable lessons in exploring the blues.

This is music as Kenton hears it.

This is music as only Kenton can interpret it.

In this time of exaggerated styles and tastes, Kenton unfolds, as you would expect him to, a rewarding musical experience. Without relying on instrumental gimmicks or grandiose pronouncements, he clearly demonstrates the awesome versatility of the Kenton orchestra.

It was less than a decade ago that Kenton arrangements such as these created one of the loudest controversies in music.

Depending upon your musical point of view (and whose articles you read), Stan was either hailed as a genius or dismissed as a martyr in search of a lost cause. It is a compliment to his artistic integrity that he withstood the furor that surrounded him for so long without compromising the things he believed in.

Ironically, Kenton’s fresh appraisal of jazz during the Fifties has made its indelible mark upon much of the highly admired thematic music now composed for motion pictures and television.

To be sure, Stan has made noticeable changes in creative direction over the past few years. These have enabled him to comment more meaningfully upon the world he knows best. (Listen to the striking shifts in tempo and mood he uses to describe a “Gloomy Sunday”!)

Significantly, almost all of the music he’s composed and arranged for the orchestra since 1958 has been in a romantic vein. Even the impressively inventive scores he wrote for The Los Angeles Neophonic Orchestra in 1966, and more recently for his concert tour of the United States, have been distinguished by his imaginative use of extremely lyrical thematic lines.

For those new to Stan Kenton’s music, this album will serve as the perfect introduction to his creative world. To the long-time Stan Kenton fan, these selections are a dramatic showcase for the excitement continually generated by the orchestra’s never-ending search for a more brilliant, more universal sound. — NOEL WEDDER

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cost of record: £3
from: The Children’s Society