STAN KENTON
FINIAN’S RAINBOW:
Kenton (p, cond); Dee Barton (d); remainder unidentified but probably 5 tpt, 4 tbn; 4 mellophones; 5 reeds; g; bs; perc
Los Angeles - 1968
That old devil moon :: If this isn't love :: When I'm not near the girl I love :: How are things in Glocca Morra :: That great come-and-get-it day :: Lullaby from 'Rosemary's baby':: People :: Theme from 'Villa rides' :: Theme from 'The chastity belt' :: Theme from 'The odd couple'
Capitol ST (M T)2951 (37/5d.)
THE 'creative world' of the man who was once known as 'Dancing America's next king' (The Kenton Era, part 1, Capitol LCT 6157) has come up with another nowhere album. The 'Finian's rainbow' side is arguably the worse; though the tunes themselves are better the orchestration is unusually airy-fairy and hesitant. The second side is mostly standard Kenton ballad stuff, with a seemingly determined exterior covering a limp sentimentality and hoked-up melodrama, though the themes themselves are trite, hardly able to stand up away from their movie connections. The performances—apart from some slack high-register work in the trumpets on some occasions—are as slick, efficient and totally impersonal as ever: Kenton's still getting the same trombone sound he got twenty-five years ago, when most of the trombonists here very likely hadn't been born. It's hard to see who it could appeal to; it's too loud for a pub or supermarket but not interesting enough to listen to for itself; it demands attention then doesn't sustain it. Yet no doubt there'll be somebody somewhere who'll like it. They can have it.
JACK COOKE
Cooke, Jack. “Record Review: Finian’s Rainbow.” Jazz Monthly 170 (1969-04): 18–19.
