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The Innovations Orchestra
''The Innovations Orchestra'' is a compilation album by pianist and bandleader Stan Kenton's "Innovations" Orchestra featuring performances recorded in 1950 and 1951. The CD includes the albums ''Innovations in Modern Music'' and '' Stan Kenton Presents'' and was released by Capitol in 1997.Vosbein, PStan Kenton Discographyaccessed April 11, 2016Maynard Ferguson Discography accessed April 11, 2016 Reception The review by Scott Yanow observed, "The music was quite uncommercial, complex, and advanced with the emphasis on the arrangements rather than the soloists". In |
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though Kenton had several pop hits from the early 1940s into the 1960s, his music was always forward-looking. Kenton was also a pioneer in the field of jazz education, creating the Stan Kenton Jazz Camp in 1959 at Indiana University.Sparke, Michael. ''Stan Kenton: This is an Orchestra.'' UNT Press (2010). . Early life Stan Kenton was born on December 15, 1911, in Wichita, Kansas; he had two sisters (Beulah and Erma Mae) born three and eight years after him. His parents, Floyd and Stella Kenton, moved the family to Colorado, and in 1924, to the Greater Los Angeles Area, settling in suburban Bell, California. Kenton attended Bell High School; his high-school yearbook picture has the prophetic notation "Old Man Jazz". Kenton started learning pian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene Austin
Lemeul Eugene Lucas (June 24, 1900 – January 24, 1972), better known by his stage name Gene Austin, was an American singer and songwriter, one of the early "crooners". His recording of " My Blue Heaven" sold over 5 million copies and was for a while the largest selling record of all time. His 1920s compositions "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" and "The Lonesome Road" became pop and jazz standards. Early life Austin was born as Lemeul Eugene Lucas in Gainesville, Texas (north of Dallas), to Nova Lucas (died 1943) and the former Serena Belle Harrell (died 1956). He took the name Gene Austin from his stepfather Jim Austin, a blacksmith. Austin grew up in Minden, Louisiana. In Minden, he learned to play piano and guitar. He ran away from home at 15. He attended a vaudeville act in Houston, Texas, where the audience was allowed to come to the stage and sing. On a dare from his friends, Austin took the stage and sang for the first time since singing as a Southern Baptist choir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Betts
Harry Betts (September 15 1922 – July 13 2012) was an American jazz trombonist. Background Born in New York and raised in Fresno, California, he was active as a jazz trombonist and played with Stan Kenton's orchestra in the 1950s. He can be heard on the album '' Get Happy!'' (Verve, 1959) by Ella Fitzgerald. Music He wrote and orchestrated soundtracks for several films, including ''A Swingin' Summer'' (1965), ''The Big Mouth'' (1967), ''A Time for Dying'' (1969), ''The Fantastic Plastic Machine'' (1969), ''Goodnight, My Love'' (1972), ''Black Mama White Mama'' (1972), ''Little Cigars'' (1973) and ''Nice Dreams'' (1981). Music from his score to ''Black Mama White Mama'' was used in the 2003 soundtrack for '' Kill Bill, Volume 1''. Aside from his work in scoring, he was known for his 1962 album, ''The Jazz Soul of Doctor Kildare''. He did numerous arrangements for singer Jack Jones. Discography * ''The Jazz Soul of Dr. Kildare'' ( Ava, 1962) As sideman With Elmer Bernstein ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milt Bernhart
Milt Bernhart (May 25, 1926 – January 22, 2004) was a West Coast jazz trombonist who worked with Stan Kenton, Frank Sinatra, and others. He supplied the solo in the middle of Sinatra's 1956 recording of ''I've Got You Under My Skin'' conducted by Nelson Riddle. Biography Bernhart (occasionally spelled Bernhardt) began on tuba, but switched to trombone in high school. At 16 he worked in Boyd Raeburn's band and later had some "gigs" with Teddy Powell. After time in the United States Army he worked, off and on, with Stan Kenton for the next ten years. He is perhaps most associated with Kenton, but in 1955 he had his first album as a leader. In 1986 he was elected President of the Big Band Academy of America. Although known as "mild-mannered" or humorous, his brief period with Benny Goodman was one area that brought out his ire. He indicated working with Goodman was "the bottom", except for basic training in the Army, of his first 23 years of life. He called Goodman a "bore" an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stu Williamson
Stu Williamson (May 14, 1933 – October 1, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter and valve trombonist. Born in Brattleboro, Vermont, Williamson was the younger brother of jazz pianist Claude Williamson. In 1949, he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked with Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Billy May, Charlie Barnet, and Shelly Manne. He worked often as a session musician until his retirement in 1968. He battled drug addiction for much of his life and died in Studio City, California in 1991. Discography As leader * ''Sapphire'' (Bethlehem, 1955) * ''Stu Williamson Plays'' (Bethlehem, 1955) * ''A Jazz Band Ball'' with Jack Sheldon (Bethlehem, 1957) * ''Stu Williamson'' (Bethlehem, 1958) As sideman or guest With Pepper Adams *''Pepper Adams Quintet'' (Mode, 1956) With Clifford Brown's All Stars *''Jazz Messages'' *'' Jazz Immortal'' (Pacific Jazz, 1956) With Benny Carter *'' Aspects'' (United Artists, 1959) With Terry Gibbs * ''Dream Band'' recorded 1959 (Contemporary, 1986) * ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maynard Ferguson
Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served as stepping stones for up-and-coming talent, his versatility on several instruments, and his ability to play in a high register. Biography Early life and education Ferguson was born in Verdun (now part of Montreal), Quebec, Canada. Encouraged by his mother and father (both musicians), he started playing piano and violin at the age of four. At nine years old, he heard a cornet for the first time in his local church and asked his parents to buy one for him. When he was thirteen, he soloed with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra. He was heard frequently on the CBC, notably featured on a "Serenade for Trumpet in Jazz" written for him by Morris Davis. He won a scholarship to the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conte Candoli
Secondo "Conte" Candoli (July 12, 1927 – December 14, 2001) was an American jazz trumpeter based on the West Coast. He played in the big bands of Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, and Dizzy Gillespie, and in Doc Severinsen's NBC Orchestra on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''. He played with Gerry Mulligan, and on Frank Sinatra's TV specials. He also recorded with Supersax, a Charlie Parker tribute band that consisted of a saxophone quintet, the rhythm section, and either a trumpet or trombone. Music career Conte was the younger brother of trumpeter Pete Candoli. He was born in Mishawaka, Indiana, United States. During the summer of 1943, while at Mishawaka High School, Secondo "Conte" Candoli sat in with Woody Herman's First Herd. After graduating in 1945, he joined the band full-time, where he sat side by side with his brother Pete in the trumpet section. Conte immediately went on the road, where he stayed for the next ten years, with Herman, Stan Kenton, B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddy Childers
Marion "Buddy" Childers (February 12, 1926 – May 24, 2007) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer and ensemble leader. Childers became famous in 1942 at the age of 16, when Stan Kenton hired him to be the lead trumpet in his band. Biography As Childers later told Steve Voce: At the rehearsal he sat me down in the first trumpet chair, had the first trumpet player sit out. I played about eight or nine things in a row and the adrenalin was really flying that day. I was 16 I probably looked about 13, but I played considerably more maturely than that. 'Well, what do you want to do?' he said after that was over. 'I want to join your band.' 'But you're so young.' 'I gotta join your band,' I said. I had this thing in my mind that I had to join a name band at 16 or I'd never be able to make it as a musician. I was thinking of Harry James so young with Ben Pollack and then with Benny Goodman, and Corky Corcoran who joined Sonny Dunham when he was 16 and then became Harry James's lead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred "Chico" Alvarez
Alfred "Chico" Alvarez (February 3, 1920 – August 1, 1992) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter with the Stan Kenton Orchestra and other bands. Life Alvarez was born in Montreal, grew up in Southern California. Upon graduation of high school, he attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. Alvarez was a soloist with the Kenton band from 1941 to 1943 and rejoined the band after Army service in World War II. He also played with the Red Norvo and Charlie Barnet bands, and worked in Las Vegas hotels in the 1960s and 1970s, accompanying singers like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. He had been a business agent for the musicians' union, the president of the Allied Arts Council and a member of the Nevada State Council on the Arts. Family Alvarez married Eileen Brennan in Los Angeles on December 31, 1949, and they moved to Las Vegas in 1958. They had one daughter, Faith Ann, born on February 8, 1958. Alvarez had two sons from a previous marriage. Alvarez' grandson is the American b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manny Albam
Manny Albam (June 24, 1922 – October 2, 2001) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, record producer, and educator. Early life A native of the Dominican Republic, Albam grew up in New York City. He was attracted to jazz at an early age when heard the music of Bix Beiderbecke. Career He left school in his teens and played saxophone in a Dixieland band led by Muggsy Spanier. When he was with the Georgie Auld band, he learned about arranging with Budd Johnson. By 1950 Albam was concentrating less on performing and more on writing and arranging. Within a few years, he became known for a bebop style that emphasized taut and witty writing with a flair for distinctive shadings; flute-led reed sections became something of an Albam trademark. One of his most popular works from that era was "Samana", an Afro-Latin composition he did for the Stan Kenton Innovations Orchestra, named after his birthplace Samaná in the Dominican Republic. He worked with bandleaders Charli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shorty Rogers
Milton "Shorty" Rogers (born Milton Rajonsky; April 14, 1924 – November 7, 1994) was an American jazz musician, one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played trumpet and flugelhorn and was in demand for his skills as an arranger. Biography Rogers was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, United States. He worked first as a professional musician with Will Bradley and Red Norvo. From 1947 to 1949, he worked extensively with Woody Herman and in 1950 and 1951 he played with Stan Kenton. On June 7, 1953, Rogers and his orchestra, including Johnny "Guitar" Watson, performed for the famed ninth Cavalcade of Jazz concert at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. Also featured that day were Roy Brown and his Orchestra, Don Tosti and His Mexican Jazzmen, Earl Bostic, Nat "King" Cole, and Louis Armstrong and his All Stars with Velma Middleton. From 1953 through 1962, Rogers recorded a series of albums for RCA Victor (later reissued on RCA's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neal Hefti
Neal Paul Hefti (October 29, 1922 – October 11, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger. He wrote music for ''The Odd Couple'' movie and TV series and for the ''Batman'' TV series. He began arranging professionally in his teens, when he wrote charts for Nat Towles. He composed and arranged while working as a trumpeter for Woody Herman providing the bandleader with versions of "Woodchopper's Ball" and "Blowin' Up a Storm" and composing "The Good Earth" and "Wild Root". He left Herman's band in 1946. Now concentrating on writing music only, he began an association with Count Basie in 1950. Hefti occasionally led his own bands. Beginnings Neal Paul Hefti was born October 29, 1922, to an impoverished family in Hastings, Nebraska, United States. As a young child, he remembered his family relying on charity during the holidays. He started playing the trumpet in school at the age of eleven, and by high school was spending his summer vacations playing in local terr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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