''Kenton's West Side Story'' is an album by the

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 ...

Orchestra recorded in 1961 and released by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

. It won the Grammy Award in 1962 for Best Jazz Performance – Large Group (Instrumental). The album was recorded in 1961 and released quickly to take advantage of the movie premiere of the musical ''West Side Story''. Kenton won his first Grammy Award and he won again the next year in the same category with Adventures in Jazz. ''Kenton's West Side Story'' peaked at No. 16 on the ''Billboard'' magazine album chart.

Background

The Kenton orchestra had been on a slow decline in sales and popularity in the late 1950s with having to compete with newer, popular music artists such as

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

Bobby Darin Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor who performed Pop music, pop, Swing music, swing, Folk music, folk, rock and roll, and country music. Darin started ...

and

The Platters The Platters are an American vocal group formed in 1952. They are one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound bridges the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the new burgeoning genre. The act ...

. The nadir of this decline was around 1958 and coincided with a recession that was effecting the entire country.Sparke, Michael (2010). "Stan Kenton: This Is An Orchestra". University of North Texas Press. p. 138 . There were far fewer big bands on the road and live music venues were hard to book for the Kenton orchestra. The band ended 1959 beaten up by poor attendance at concerts and having to rely far more on dance halls than real jazz concerts. The band reformed in 1960 with a new look and new sound, ''West Side Story'' was one of the first ' mellophonium' albums, featuring the newly-developed trumpet/French horn hybrid instrument, to be part of an upsurge in Kenton's popularity.Sparke, Michael; Venudor, Peter (1998). "Stan Kenton, The Studio Sessions". Balboa Books. . Lee Gillette and the other Capitol executives were pushing Kenton towards more commercially viable recording projects in the early 1960s. Kenton made concessions to this though these were not his favorites records to make; one very happy outcome of these practical commercial choices was the ''West Side Story'' LP. Johnny Richards was chosen as the arranger for the project and was a logical choice seeing his success with ''

Cuban Fire! ''Cuban Fire!'' is an album by Stan Kenton and his orchestra released in 1956 by Capitol Records. This was Stan Kenton's big band's first full-length recording of Afro-Cuban-styled music. The LP charted for four weeks in ''Billboard (magazine), B ...

'' and having helped design the mellophonium.Easton, Carol. ''Straight Ahead: The Story of Stan Kenton'' Johnny Richards' music was ''substantial''---"steel and concrete," Kenton called it. "Johnny was probably the best schooled, musically, of all of us put together." The handling of Bernstein's crowning achievement as a Broadway composer by the Kenton band was going to take a very experienced and adept arranger. This was the only time an entire Kenton LP was devoted to a single show; it was the closest thing that could be easily adapted to fit the large scale, progressive jazz style of the Kenton group. The

Mirisch Company The Mirisch Company was an American film production company owned by Walter Mirisch and his brothers, Marvin Mirisch, Marvin and Harold Mirisch. The company also had sister firms known at various times as Mirisch Production Company, Mirisch Pictu ...

's film adaptation of

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a Musical theatre, musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a Book (musical theatre), book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo an ...

starring

Natalie Wood Natalie Wood (née Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress. She began acting at age four and co-starred at age eight in ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947). As a teenager, she was nominated for an Academy Award f ...

and Richard Beymer was scheduled for release in September 1961. Both Kenton and Capitol producer Lee Gillette took advantage of the film coming out and jumped on the opportunity to use Bernstein's award-winning music to be a fitting vehicle for the large scale sound of the new "Mellophonium Band." When the Kenton album was released, it started charting just before the film had been released in most major American cities. The Capitol LP was perfectly timed by producer Lee Gillette. There were a great many successes attributed to the ''Kenton's West Side Story'' none of which is more interesting than the visit by Mirisch representatives to the

Capitol Tower The Capitol Records Building, also known as the Capitol Records Tower, is a 13-story tower building in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Designed by Louis Naidorf of Welton Becket Associates, it is one of th ...

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

. With the movie nearly complete, Lee Gillette had invited the Mirisch people to hear what the Kenton/Richards collaboration had produced (listen to the mix and mastering). The movie producers were very impressed, "We had no idea! If we only knew!". The implication being the Capitol produced ''

'' could or would have been part of the soundtrack. In the end, full endorsement was given by Mirisch to allow a still photo from the movie to be used as the cover of ''Kenton's West Side Story''. As it happened both the Kenton LP and Columbia Records produced sound track co-existed beautifully on the commercial market with both winning Grammys in 1962 for Best sound track LP and Best large ensemble jazz LP. The first public performance of the Kenton Mellophonium Band was sandwiched between the two ''Kenton West Wide Story'' recording sessions. The Mellophonium Band did not make its public debut until March 29, 1961 at the Riviera Hotel in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, almost 8 months after the mellophonium was introduced as part of the regular instrumentation. After numerous aborted recording sessions and a long road of finding appropriate repertoire, Kenton now was on the cusp of his most commercially successful album release.

Recording

The music arranged by Johnny Richards for ''Kenton's West Side Story'' is outstanding but was difficult to execute. Due to the taxing brass writing there are 7 trumpets used on the sessions, 2 of them being kept in reserve to give other trumpet players a needed break while recording. Many of the earlier problems presented with the mellophonium had been worked out making this the first score and recording sessions (other than Christmas music or ballads) that really worked for this new incarnation of the Kenton band. Richards thought the original Broadway score to be repetitive and appropriate alterations were made to the harmonic and rhythmic structures. To fill in the blanks, there are numerous 'Richard-isms' in ''Kenton's West Side Story'' that surface musically; a great deal of stylistic characteristics of his renderings of Bernstein's music are borrowed from the successful 1956 ''Cuban Fire!'' LP and his other Kenton orchestrations. Many of the Afro-Latin themes from both Kenton LPs (''Cuban Fire!'' vs ''West Side Story'') are similar but both retain their uniqueness in the hands of Richards.Daryll, Ted. ''Kenton's West Side Story'' (CD liner notes). Capitol Jazz. 1994. It is mentioned earlier about Mirisch Company executive being impressed with the Johnny Richards orchestrations but in the end there is little doubt Richards designed his charts for the Kenton band. Solo space had to be allowed for the Kenton soloists to improvise, this is unheard of with a show score. There are also distinct woodwind sounds in the original soundtrack (

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn (mainly North America), is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially ...

) that are not in the Richards interpretations. Johnny Richards makes some interesting changes to tempos of the Bernstein score. He turns ''Gee, Officer Krupke'' into a big band chart more akin to something from the

Count Basie Orchestra The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16- to 18-piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936. Despite a brief disbandment at the beginning of the 19 ...

; closer to an orchestration by Neal Hefti or Billy Byers. Besides the ''Prologue'', '' Cool'' is probably the most distinctively Johnny Richards arrangement that is for more his than Bernstein's. Many of Richards' orchestration devices used in ''Cuban Fire!'' and Kenton's later LP ''Adventures in Time'' can be heard in '' Cool'' so to bolster what Richards perceived as repetitive melodies and chords structures from the original. In the final analysis the Kenton recording and Richards' orchestrations are magnificent but not as much in a "jazz" sense as they are just good music. The Bernstein themes and content are theatrical and one cannot avoid the musical picture this paints. The placement of lengthy improvised jazz solos are not there and Richards' orchestration is very heavily relied upon to carry the day. In no way does the LP accomplish the same things the later Kenton Grammy winning LP '' Adventures In Jazz'' achieves. It is understandable why the general public (vs a hard core jazz audience) was willing to readily accept ''Kenton's West Side Story'' propelling it to such high ratings with

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

during 1961 and 1962.

Soloists from ''Kenton's West Side Story''

As a jazz soloist on

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

, Conte Candoli is a shining star on the sessions. He backed his way onto the ''Kenton's West Side Story'' LP due to the failure of Ernie Berhardt to fill the trumpet solo slots and

Marvin Stamm Marvin Louis Stamm (born May 23, 1939) is an American jazz trumpeter. Career Stamm was born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Stamm began on trumpet at age twelve. He attended North Texas State University, where he was a member of the One ...

's inability to fly back across the country for the sessions. Kenton ends up personally asking Candoli to do the sessions, it ends up being a brilliant choice in being able to add more polish to the LP. Candoli is highly conspicuous in having more solo space than anyone on the LP but this is understandable in order to compete with the brass heavy orchestrations. Gabe Baltazar, Sam Donahue and Gene Roland are also nice additions to the solo roster but any one of them does not play any substantial statement of improvisation. Again, the solo space is very limited by the theatrical content of the music and Johnny Richards trying to stay true to the music with his orchestrations.

Legacy of ''Kenton's West Side Story''

The ''Kenton's West Side Story'' LP charted for 26 weeks in

starting in October 1961, peaking at #16 in November on the Billboard Magazine Hot 100 albums. Stan Kenton is listed in Today's Top Record Talent honor roll in

's April 4, 1963 issue citing both ''Adventures In Jazz'' and ''Kenton's West Side Story'' as top selling hits.

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized in lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events and styles related to th ...

, April 4, 1963, page 56 Grammy Awards , - , 1962 , , ''Kenton's West Side Story'' , , Best Jazz Performance - Large Group (Instrumental), , , -

Additional charts

Reception

"Arranger Johnny Richards is responsible for the sometimes wild, sometimes mournful, but always interesting reading by the Kenton band of the "West Side Story" score. Kenton has assembled a huge orchestra to play the exciting music from the show and top-flight stereo recording make the listener's room jump with the life of the music. Naturally there are good doses of jazz in the set and some tine solo highlights by Kenton himself at piano. The excellence of the LP as a whole, effective use of stereo positioning, and release timed with showing of the "West Side" motion picture all should aid in sales of the album." :''Billboard'' Review on 1999 CD reissue "When the producers of the film West Side Story heard a sampling of what the Stan Kenton Orchestra had done to their score, they were disappointed that they had not thought to ask the band to play on the soundtrack. Johnny Richards's arrangements of ten of the famous play's melodies are alternately dramatic and tender with plenty of the passion displayed by the characters in the story. Soloists include altoist Gabe Baltazar, veteran tenor Sam Donahue and trumpeter Conte Candoli, but it is the raging ensembles that are most memorable about the classic recording. This CD reissue is highly recommended." :''

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

, AllMusic''

Track listing

Note *Tracks 1-10 comprised the original Capitol ST-1609 (1961) *Tracks 1-10 recorded March 15/16, April 11, 1961 in Hollywood, CA. at Goldwyn Sound Stage #5.

Personnel

Musicians

– piano, conductor * Gabe Baltazar – alto saxophone * Sam Donahue – tenor saxophone * Paul Renzi – tenor saxophone * Marvin Holladay – baritone saxophone * Wayne Dunstan – baritone and bass saxophones * Ernie Bernhardt,

Bud Brisbois Austin Dean "Bud" Brisbois (April 11, 1937 – June 1, 1978) was a jazz and studio trumpeter. He played jazz, pop, rock, Country music, country, Motown, and classical music. Career Brisbois was born in Edina, Minnesota and began studying the tr ...

, Conte Candoli, Larry McGuire, Bob Rolfe, Sanford Skinner, Dalton Smith – trumpet * Joe Burnett, Dwight Carver, Gordon Davison, Keith LaMotte, Gene Roland – mellophonium * Bob Fitzpatrick, Paul Heydorff, Jack Spurlock – trombone * Jim Amlotte – bass trombone * Dave Wheeler – bass trombone * Clive Acker – tuba * Pete Chivily – bass * Jerry Lestock McKenzie – drums * Larry Bunker or Lou Singer – tympani * Mike Pacheco – bongos * George Acevedo – congas

Production

* Lee Gillette – producer * Kent Larsen – producer * Ted Daryll – reissue producer * Ron McMaster – digital transfer

References

Bibliography

*Daryll, Ted. ''Kenton's West Side Story'' (CD liner notes). Capitol Jazz. 1994. *Easton, Carol. ''Straight Ahead: The Story of Stan Kenton.'' William Morrow & Company, Inc. New York, N.Y. 1973. *Lee, William F., Kenton, Audree Coke. ''Stan Kenton: Artistry In Rhythm.'' Creative Press of Los Angeles. 1980. *Sparke, Michael. ''Stan Kenton: This Is An Orchestra''. University of North Texas Press. 2010. *Sparke, Michael;, Venudor, Peter. ''Stan Kenton, The Studio Sessions''. Balboa Books. 1998.

External links

* * * {{Authority control 1961 albums Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album Big band albums Stan Kenton albums Capitol Records albums Albums conducted by Stan Kenton Albums produced by Lee Gillette West Side Story Recordings of compositions by Leonard Bernstein