Kenton Plays Chicago

McDonough, John. "Record Review. Plays Chicago (Creative World)." Down Beat 27 Feb. 1975: 24.

STAN KENTON PLAYS CHICAGO—Creative World ST 1072: Canon; Mother; Once Upon A Time; Free; Alone; Inner crisis; First Child; Rise and Fall of a Short Fugue.

Personnel: John Harner, Dave Zeagler, Mike Barrowman, Mike Snustead; Kevin Jordan, trumpets; Dick Shearer, Lloyd Spoon, Brett Stamps, Bill Hartman, trombones; Mike Wallace, tuba; Tony Campise, Rich Condit, Greg Smith, Dick Wilkie, Roy Reynolds, saxes; Kenton, piano; Mike Ross, bass; Peter Erskine, drums; Ramon Lopez, percussion.

★ ★ ★

Kenton has come forth with another striking and painstaking piece of big band craftsmanship in what is partially a salute to Blood, Sweat and Tears, and Chicago. It is hard to imagine a group of 17 superb musicians surpassing the standards of quality that Kenton has reached with this ensemble. So why will I probably never listen to it again after I finish this review?

For one thing, I don’t believe it swings. It explodes with sound and fury. But it doesn’t swing. It challenges. But it doesn’t swing. Perhaps that’s not its intent. It’s dealing, after all, with rock, and rock never swung in any real jazz sense. Yet, Kenton’s band is a jazz ensemble, so one might expect more of a jazz feeling.

For another thing, there is nothing truly distinctive about the band. As one of the bare handful of ensembles occupying the pantheon of orchestral excellence today, it seems to have lost its identity somewhere. It sounds like an outstanding studio band playing another pretentious, overweighted, with-it arrangement. This is the risk a man like Kenton (or herman or Rich in his band days) runs, a man who’s always looking to tomorrow and unwilling to make a large investment in an identifiable tradition (Duke, Basie, Harry James).

Canon is an impressive opening coda that goes nowhere in particular. Then there’s Mother, all things considered, the best chart on the LP. There’s some exciting dueling between Shearer and Stamps and some engaging work from the reed section, although brief. it’s one of the few points on the program, in fact, where one realizes there is a reed section in the band. One Upon A Time, is spare and moody, featuring a whiff of Kenton before building up to a brassy climax. Drummer Erskine is heavily featured on Free, although the mix lets him dominate the band throughout most of the LP. Fugue opens with an ominous bass chord that could have rumbled from the pen of Bernard Herrmann. Campise’s solo is a honking free-blowing mishmash undoubtedly portraying the “fall” of the piece.

Although the band is capable of anything, the soloists, most of whom have probably matured under rock influences, seem to have lost touch with such qualities as subtlety, nuance, swing and form.

—mcdonough