The Innovations Orchestra
Label:
Capitol Jazz (Blue Note)
Year Released:
Released: 25/11/97
Total Playing Time:
Tracks:
DISC 1:
Mirage
Conflict
Solitaire
Soliloquy
Theme For Sunday
Amazonia
Lonesome Road
Trajectories
Incident In Jazz
Cuban Episode
Evening In Pakistan
Salute
Mardi Gras
In Veradero
Jolly Rogers
Blues In Riff
DISC 2
Cello-logy
Art Pepper
Halls Of Brass
Maynard Ferguson
Shelly Manne
June Christy
House Of Strings
Round Robin
Coop's Solo
Sambo
Ennui
Samana
Coop's Solo - (alternate take)
Salute 15 Salute - (alternate take)
Personal
Personnel includes: Stan Kenton, Innovations Orchestra,
Maynard Ferguson, Art Pepper, Bob Cooper, Laurindo Almeida.
| Stan Kenton was always interested in leading a concert jazz orchestra as opposed to a dance band. During 1950-51, a time period when few big bands were able to survive (even Count Basie temporarily led a combo), Kenton did the unthinkable by putting together a 40-piece orchestra that included a full string section. The music was quite uncommercial, complex and advanced with the emphasis on the arrangements rather than the soloists (which include trumpeters Shorty Rogers and Maynard Ferguson, trombonist Milt Bernhart, altoist Art Pepper, tenor saxophonist Bob Cooper and guitarist Laurindo Almeida). This two-CD set has all of the music originally released on the albums Innovations in Modern Music and Stan Kenton Presents plus 14 other key selections by the forbidding but intriguing orchestra. Although there are two numbers by Bob Graettinge (the most radical of the Kenton arrangers), his main works have already been issued separately as Stan Kenton Plays Bob Graettinger. The primary arrangers on this twofer are Pete Rugolo (whose work is often quite serious although "Mardi Gras" is a definite contrast!), Bill Russo (including the memorable "Solitaire"), Johnny Richards and, for a few swinging numbers that are a major contrast, Shorty Rogers. Among the more famous selections on this definitive twofer are "Lonesome Road" (which has one of two June Christy vocals), "Soliloquy," "Cuban Episode," "Blues in Riff," "Jolly Rogers," "Round Robin," "Halls of Brass," "Art Pepper," "Maynard Ferguson," "Shelly Manne," "June Christy" and "Coop's Solo." The last four selections on the reissue are taken from an Oct. 14, 1951 concert that was part of this very expensive ensemble's second and final tour. By 1952 Kenton was leading a more conventional big band, but the recordings of his Innovations Orchestra have since become legendary and stand apart from the other music of the 1950s. ~ Scott Yanow |
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