The Last Band
“It’s about preserving Americana, and about sharing the love story between an ailing American Icon, his music, and the band who rallied around him in the summer of '78”
Forty years ago, I had the privilege and luck to land the lead trombone chair for the Stan Kenton Orchestra. For me, it was like playing 1st base and batting cleanup for the Yankees. I called it “Trombone Heaven”. As with so many others who played on the band, the music left me somewhat touched forever.
In January of 1978, what was to be the last band, met up and rehearsed in Buffalo NY. Stan was still recovering after his serious fall in Redding, PA. After a trickling of turnovers during that winter, our personnel stabilized for the band’s final summer months. By this point Bob Coassin, Jim Farrelly, John DeFlon, Tim Burke and Howard Hedges had joined the band. We were determined to give Stan the best band possible, so with Stan’s expressed blessings, we taped the band’s concerts and dance engagements. Many nights on the bus we would listen and critique these recordings. We were on a mission to make this our ultimate tribute to him.
Well, it turned out these recordings were just too good to be taken to the grave. It has been a moving task working with these tapes 40 years later; re-living the moments and memories. Thankfully, Jim Farrelly joined me on this project. In fact, I may never have gotten this project into the end zone without him and the team he brought on board. After combing through the tapes; choosing the tracks and their order, I sent them to Jim Farrelly and his team for final mastering.
The several hours of the’78 tapes were edited down to this Double-CD, “Final Concerts” and “Last Dance”. Each CD is 74 minutes; and are 15 and 25 tracks respectively. We purposefully included as many tracks as possible. They were recorded on a 3 Channel Nakamichi (L, R, C) Cassette Recorder with electret condenser microphones.
The “Final Concerts” CD puts you front-row center, at a non-stop, continuous performance which emulates a typical Kenton concert. The performances are from the various concerts we recorded live from the bandstand during that final summer of ‘78. For these concerts, the band typically used a “bomber” set up, in a “V” sprawling across full-size theater stages. The “Last Dance” CD is made up of recordings from dance engagements where we usually used a standard big band “stacked” set up.
Soloists throughout both CDs are Bob Doll, Roy Reynolds, Jack Stuckey, Stan Kenton, Jonathan Ward, Jay Cummings, Ramon Lopez, Jim Farrelly and I, Roger Homefield, Tom Lacy solos on Turtle Talk, and Denny Brunk, solo obbligato, Maleguena finale. Guest Soloist, Rich Matteson (euphonium) performs Sentimental Over You & Lover Man.
Special acknowledgment to our earlier fellow '78 personnel: Alan Yankee, Melanie Yankee, Steve Campos, Tom Baker, Clay Jenkins, Mike Bard, Pete Asch, Chuck Carter, Allan Morrissey, Kirk Smith, and to all the great musicians who passed through this historic band.
Special Thanks to Mike Vax, Ken Jones, Bill Lichtenauer, David and Milt Bernhart family, Anthony Agostinelli, and to all the people who felt the music all these years and encouraged us to carry on. I know that Milt Bernhart would be proud of us and this CD. We believe Stan would be too!
FORMAT 2 Compact discs
PRODUCERS Roger Homefield / Jim Farrelly
LOCATION Various
RECORDING DATES 1978
RELEASE 2019
LAYOUT AND DESIGN P.J. Yinger
Recorded on location by Roger Homefield
Engineered and Mastered by David Price and Jim Farrelly
Tracks
Disc 1 – Final Concerts
1. Body Soul (arr. Marty Paich)
Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, California; 13-18 August 1978 *
solo: Kenton (p)
2. A Little Minor Booze (Willie Maiden)
Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, California; 13-18 August 1978 *
solos: Stuckey (bs) Farrelly (as) Doll (tp)
3. Turtle Talk (Dee Barton)
Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, California; 13-18 August 1978 *
solo: Lacy (tb)
4. Chelsea Bridge (arr. Alan Yankee)
Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, California; 13-18 August 1978 *
solos: Kenton (p) Homefield (tb) Farrelly (as) Lopez (cga) Cummings (d)
5. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, California; 13-18 August 1978 *
solo: Homefield (tb)
6. I’m Getting Sentimental Over You
North Texas State University, Denton, Texas; 29 June 1978
solo: Matteson (euph)
7. Lonely Tears (Mark Taylor)
Drury College, Springfield, Missouri; 20 June 1978
solo: Doll (tp)
8. Yesterdays (arr. Bill Holman)
North Texas State University, Denton, Texas; 29 June 1978
solo: Reynolds (ts)
9. Tattooed Lady (Alan Yankee)
North Texas State University, Denton, Texas; 29 June 1978
solos: Homefield (tb) Doll (tp)
10.Samba de Haps (Mark Taylor)
Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, California; 13-18 August 1978 *
solo: Farrelly (as)
11. Intermission Riff (head arrangement)
Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, California; 13-18 August 1978 *
solos: Reynolds (ts) Landis (ts) Doll (tp) Stuckey (bs) Coassin (tp)
12. Bogota (Ken Hanna)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solos: Lopez (cga) Cummings (d) Doll (tp) Homefield (tb)
13. My Old Flame (arr. Marty Paich)
Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, California; 13-18 August 1978 *
solos: Reynolds (ts) Doll (tp)
14. Maleguena (arr. Bill Holman)
Drury College, Springfield, Missouri; 23 June 1978
solos: Homefield (tb) Reynolds (ts) Brunk (tb)
15. Artistry in Rhythm (Stan Kenton)
Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, California; 13-18 August 1978 *
solo: Kenton (p)
* …or possibly California State University, Sacramento, California, 6-11 August 1978, or Cocoanut Grove, Santa Cruz, California, 12 August 1978
Disc 2 – Last Dance
1. A Foggy Day (arr. Lennie Niehaus)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solo: Doll (tp)
2. Sophisticated Lady (arr. Lennie Niehaus)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solo: Homefield (tb)
3. You Stepped Out of a Dream (arr. Lennie Niehaus)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solo: Doll (tp)
4. But Beautiful (arr. Lennie Niehaus)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solo: Homefield (tb)
5. Eager Beaver (Stan Kenton)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
soli: Hedges (b-tb)/Garrett (b-tb)
6. Gone With The Wind (arr. Lennie Niehaus)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solo: Homefield (tb)
7. I’ve Never Been In Love Before (arr. Lennie Niehaus)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solo: Doll (tp)
8. Jump For Joe (Gene Roland)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solos: Doll (tp) Coassin (tp)
9. What’s New?
Drury College, Springfield, Missouri; 20 June 1978
solos: Doll (tp) Kenton (p) Farrelly (as)
10. Reuben’s Blues (Gene Roland)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solos: Stuckey (bs)
11. The Days of Wine and Roses
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solo: Homefield (tb)
12. When I Fall In Love (arr. Lennie Niehaus)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
13. Lover Man
North Texas State University, Denton, Texas; 29 June 1978
solo: Matteson (euph)
14. This Is All I Ask (arr. Ken Hanna)
Drury College, Springfield, Missouri; 20 June 1978
solos: Homefield (tb) Farrelly (as)
15. Some Enchanted Evening (arr. Lennie Niehaus)
Venue TBD
solo: Kenton (p)
16. Begin the Beguine (arr. Lennie Niehaus)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solo: Kenton (p)
17. Laura (arr. Lennie Niehaus)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solos: Haag (tp) Homefield (tb)
18. My One and Only Love (arr. Lennie Niehaus)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solos: Homefield (tb) Reynolds (ts)
19. Sunny (arr. Stan Kenton)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
20. It Might as Well Be Spring (arr. Lennie Niehaus)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solo: Farrelly (as)
21. Like Someone in Love (arr. Lennie Niehaus)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solo: Farrelly (as)
22. Satin Doll (arr. John Harner)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solos: Doll (tp) Homefield (tb)
23. Here’s That Rainy Day (arr. Dee Barton)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
24. It Was A Very Good Year (arr. Stan Kenton)
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
25. Take the A Train
Rutherford, California; 19 August 1978
solos: Homefield (tb) Doll (tp) Coassin (tp)
Personnel
Alto sax
Jim Farrelly
Tenor sax
Roy Reynolds
Dan Landis
Bari sax
Lisa Hittle
Jack Stuckey
Trumpet
Bob Coassin
Bruce Haag
Tim Burke
John DeFlon
Bob Doll
Trombone
Roger Homefield
Denny Brunk
Tom Lacy
Howard Hedges (b-tb)
AG Robeson / Harold Garrett (b-tb)
Piano
Stan Kenton
Bass
Jon Ward
Drums
Jay Cummings
Percussion
Ramon Lopez
Additional personnel
Disk 1, track 6 and Disk 2, track 13
Rich Matteson – euphonium
Neil Slater – piano
