Nicknamed “Mr. Excitement”, ex-boxer Jackie Wilson set the stage for all of the subsequent “soul” singers like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. His 1958 debut shows his 4 octave range in “Danny Boy”, and he swings hard in big band settings during the “r” rolling “Reet Petite” while going operatic in “To Be Loved”. Next year he struck gold with the classic doo wopper “Lonely Teardrops” and swinger “That’s Why I Love You So”. He released a pair of albums in 1960, one with the orchestrated “A Woman, A Lover, A Friend” and the underrated blues album where he tears into “Sazzle Dazzle”. The next year he surprised everyone with an impressive read of jazz standards such as “Mood Indigo” and “Tenderly”. The true prototype.
Stan Kenton was the most adventurous of all jazz big bands, starting way back in the late Swing Era. His 1958 venture with Blue Note Records is a surprisingly muted affair, with most of the solos delivered by Kenton himself on piano on pieces like “A Sunday Kind of Love” and “How Deep Is The Ocean”. His next album on Blue Note is similarly subdued with solos by Rolf Ericson and Bill Chase along with alto saxist Charlie Mariano on “Django” and “The Meaning Of The Blues”. His last album with the famed hard bop label is another understated affair, focusing on charts rather than solos on “Darn That Dream” and “It Might As Well Be Spring. The end of 1961 sees him still romantically inclined with “Your Lover Has Gone” and a sublime “Once In Awhile”. Restrained progressive moods.