Stan Kenton & His Orchestra

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and theaters. At night he paid his dues in a succession of after-hours bars, clip joints and five dollar-a-night speakeasies prevalent throughout the depression-era southwest until he was able to assemble his own 14-piece orchestra in June of 1941. A dominant characteristic of this relatively small Kenton Orchestra was the choppy, staccato manner of phrasing that was especially noticeable in the writing for the reed section. In retrospect this continues to emerge as one of the most readily identifiable of all the Kenton ensembles. His early piano voicings, slightly reminiscent of ones used by the great percussion pianist, Earl 'Fatha' Hines, gradually found their own distinctive style when he reshaped his chord patterns and began adding augmented and diminished 5ths, 9ths, 11ths and 13ths, which in no time began showing up in his arrangements.

Much of the original library, written by Stan, permanently changed the sound of big bands. Fiery, stratospheric brass, punctuated by ...

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Jazz club, Birdland, became enamored with the Orchestra's roaring, precision sound and helped make it one of the most successful attractions in the entertainment industry. In June of that year he filled the Hollywood Bowl with 15,000 people and sold out a midnight Carnegie Hall performance which included 300 seats placed on stage alongside the Orchestra in an effort to help accommodate the overflow.



Long before the Rock phenomena overtook the United States the Kenton Orchestra was obligated to keep moving to larger venues in order to accommodate its ever increasing number of enthusiasts who thought nothing about traveling hundreds of miles in order to listen to the band for ...

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