Jean Turner

A romantic and vibrant voice fortified with imaginative arrangements by Stan Kenton, Lennie Niehaus and Bill Holman, sparkles and glows through a sensitive and distinctive range of emotions.


“It’s always pleased me to introduce and then watch a gifted vocalist like Jean Turner grow musically. A perfectionist, in the short time she's been with the band Jean has creatively demonstrated that she has that unique quality which will certainly assure her a position of preeminence among new vocalists. These arrangements emphasize not only her instinctive feeling for jazz, but also serve to showcase her versatility and ability to express her ideas through a variety of moods.”

—STAN KENTON

When Stan Kenton formed his new twenty-two piece orchestra in January of 1961, he gave little consideration to who would fill the role of vocalist, which in the past had been handled by Anita O’Day. June Christy. Chris Connor and Ann Richards.

Kenton was too absorbed in hiring musicians, booking the band for a tour, and writing his share of the 250 arrangements the band needed now that four mellophoniums had been added, to become involved in locating a new singer.

The eleven-month tour began, and as it progressed the band sounded even fuller and more robust. Endless rehearsals and the ennervating task of writing an entirely new library had been worth the effort.

By the time they had reached New York City's Basin Street East in September of 1961, Kenton and his musicians were executing music splashed with brilliance and vitality rarely heard on concert or ballroom stages.

Nevertheless, even though this orchestra had helped him win his seventh Playboy magazine Jazz Poll Award and two Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording, Arts and Sciences, Kenton's aesthetic restlessness compelled him to re-evaluate his perspective. Was he still communicating on all the musical levels that stimulate him?

He decided that it was time again to give his music a new direction, to search out new ideas and new orchestral techniques. For weeks he had been intrigued with the idea of combining the brass and reed sounds of the orchestra with a new voice. And, after listening to dozens of vocalist in clubs and on demonstration records, Kenton was finally satisfied that he had found his new direction and the new voice:

JEAN TURNER

Jean Turner has been singing since she was three years old. But it was not until she entered George Washington High School in San Francisco that intonation and rhythmic and lyrical phrasing took on meaning for her. And it was not until her sophomore year at high school, while singing weekends at the Alice Theatre in the Bay Area, that she experienced the thrill and the inescapable terror that the professional singer realizes before a mature audience.

But whether a song is sophisticated or simple, jean has her own special way of making its mood spring unforgettably to life. And her extraordinary style seems to punctuate the exuberant vitality of the Kenton Orchestra's powerful sections. With this in mind Kenton himself sketched out the format of this album in order to illustrate just how effectively Jean could be voiced against twenty-two instruments.

All of the material written by Holman (A Lot of Livin' to Do and It's a Big Wide Wonderful World) and Niehaus (Day Dream; Someone to Watch Over Me; Piel Canela; Quizas, Quizas, Quizas; You're the Top; Sleepy lagoon; Our Love ls Here to Stay; and Love Walked In) was submitted over a ten month period while Jean and the band were touring. Each tune was broken in during the concert and dance dates Kenton's band completed last year.

Niehaus, who stayed with the band for ten days while they were in the East, said: "Much of the material that Holman and I wrote for Jean was commissioned by a telephone call from Stan while the band was two thousand miles away. It's difficult to write for a vocalist when you're not close enough to rehearse her arrangements. This can be especially frustrating when you’re writing for a band as large and exciting as Stan’s.

“Consequently, Holman and I had done about sixteen things for Jean when I decided to fly to New York to see for myself how well our arrangements were working for her, even though Stan kept reassuring us that everything was fine and that Jean had gained considerable popularity and acceptance.

“I honestly was unprepared for the reaction the audience gave her that first night I was with the band in Manhattan. Both Holman and I had done some things built on eighth-note sequences, which meant she had to drive in closely to the brass figurations and keep pyramiding her voice. Otherwise she would have been lost in the trumpet and trombone lines. Not only did she work effortlessly within the context of the arrangements, but she sustained a gently-swinging mood all her own. Half way through that first set, my mind was flooded with ideas for future material. As a matter of fact, I wrote three things for her in my hotel room before returning to Los Angeles.

“Jean, like three or four other great vocalists I know, can immediately sense what is happening deep within your arrangement, and knows exactly when to advance with the band, or to side-step them as they sweep by her. When you’re working with someone as sensitive as this. someone who appreciates what you are trying to say, it is a thrill to write for them.”

It is the contention of a score of people that Miss Turner's auspicious appearance in this album will serve to pinpoint in musical history one of the most creative and vocal phases of Kenton's career and his creative world.

— Notes compiled by Noel Wedder