In celebration of what would have been bandleader Stan Kenton’s 100th birthday, Jazzed Media has released an intriguing and educational DVD documentary on the life, music and vision of the extraordinarily visionary and controversial band leader Stan Kenton. In two hours, through interviews and fascinating film clips, filmmaker Graham Carter takes you through Kenton’s entire career, cleverly dividing it up by the different names and styles of his orchestras (The Neophonic Years, etc). A few fascinating audio clips of Kenton’s musical worldview are interspersed with some vintage band reels, ranging from the original one with a gazillion saxes and a rhythm section, through the ones with a multi-gazillion brass, strings and other various conglomerations.
Performances by the lovely June Christy, the energetic Peter Erskine and percussive Jack Costanzo show Kenton’s ability to change with the times, as well as keeping determined to maintain his own voice so that he “wouldn’t be a band that sounded like Woody Herman.” The historical insights provided by Howard Rumsey, Bill Holman, Jack Costanzo, peter Erskine and Dr. Herb Wong are priceless, and even if you think that Stan Kenton is the Richard Wagner of jazz (“he’s better than he sounds”), you simply can’t ignore the fact that he kept to his vision without compromise, and to this day has a following rivaled by no other big band leader. A welcome program.
Jazzed Media DVD
www.jazzedmedia.com