No. 345: Big Stan

No. 345: "Big Stan" by Tom Wills, pencil, October 2016.

I was a drummer in my formative years, all about rhythm and volume.
I also was fortunate to have high school band directors who were cool young guys into all sorts of music, and unafraid to open up young minds to tunes other than hard rock.
Now, drummers in high school concert bands have three jobs: Keep quiet, count out time, and strike that triangle but not too loud.
Marching band was another animal -- play as loud and fast as you could get away with until a baton was thrown.

The kid in '79

Thankfully we had a jazz band that played at basketball games, and we were exposed to broader and more swinging arrangements that allowed for solos, speed, technique and showmanship and even hard volume. Though I never met Stan Kenton, I was certainly introduced to him then.

LPs, 78s and 45s.

One of the band directors had a cabinet of those Stan Kenton records and played them for a few of us at his house. And in a savvy move, Kenton made his charts available to college and high school stage bands.
Ironically he died in 1979, the year that I was graduated from Warren Western Reserve High School (subsequently demolished).

 
So I came to like Stan Kenton for the very reason some critics hated him:  His bands were loud and fast, with plenty of showing off. His tunes leveled me.
Kenton had an orchestra, not simply a band.

Over time I set out to find all of those albums, and there are a ton of 'em. Stan Kenton must have sold jillions of records because they wind up at every Goodwill, rummage sale, flea market, garage sale or estate sale that I find. And most of them are well-loved, played to death and sad. So it took awhile, as I am very particular about my vinyl, but eventually I got most of them -- even the symphonic experiments, the 78s and a few 45s. "Artistry in Rhythm," "Tampico," "Unison Riff" … City of Glass … Kenton Plays Wagner …

Set of 78 rpm records. Note "And His Orchestra."

The pianist, born in 1911, formed his first orchestra in 1941, which later was named after his theme song "Artistry in Rhythm." The band and style became known as the "wall of brass" though he called it "progressive jazz." Great arrangers and players shaped "The Kenton Sound" -- described as swinging, unpredictable and LOUD.

Kenton split from his long-time association with Capitol Records in the 1970s and formed his own label, "The Creative World of Stan Kenton." These records represent my greatest score: At a Goodwill store outside Kent, Ohio, some school or person had unloaded nearly the entire Creative World catalog, all similarly packaged.

One of the Creative World records.

Some were reissues of those Capitol albums but many were live recordings produced during the 1970s on his new label from concerts at various universities. They were nearly mint and I needed a cart to get them to the car.

Kenton's vinyl output occupies nearly a full crate in my music library, along with other "greats" such as Duke Ellington and Miles Davis. And I still find stray Kenton records out and about, and once in a while it's one that I don't have.

June and Stan from the inner sleeve of "Road Show"

Recently I found a nice copy of "Road Show" with the Kenton orchestra, June Christy and others, from 1959 at Purdue University in Lafayette, Ind. (two discs, mono.) You can barely discern her name at the bottom of the billboard in this drawing, as well as her image. On this particular record June had a cold but the band -- "His 20 Masters of Swing Orchestra" -- was predictably hot.

Obviously this drawing is a new favorite of mine and, like Kenton, it is big and bold.  It was interesting to draw his face twice here, in profile in the foreground and in full in the background.  The profile was done in just one night, with the poster face done the subsequent night.  I finished his tie and jacket about a week later, on the very last day of work on this piece.

The lettering took the most time and the steadiest hand.  It reminded me of my brief experience as a sign painter -- and why I don't want to be a sign painter anymore. The big letters are supposed to have sparkles on them; the smaller letters kind of fade out in detail at the bottom of the billboard, by design.

It dawned on me, and others have mentioned, that this black and white drawing resembles the illustrations that adorn the backs of those classic Capitol Records albums. That's an unintentional but happy coincidence.
This illustration of Stan Kenton is probably destined for my own keeping, as he now has a limited appeal to older people or serious jazz heads, although there has been a resurgence of interest lately.

I will, however, present the drawing (in a massive frame) and others at an art show from noon to 5 Nov. 6 at the splendid Peter Allen Inn & Event Center in Kinsman, Ohio, should you be inclined to join me for some wine. If you have heard of Stan Kenton before, I'm glad.  If you have HEARD him, I'm impressed. If you learned something about him by looking at my drawing and reading this blog, I am thrilled.

This drawing is for sale. Contact willstom01@gmail.com. Otherwise he's happily on my music and art room wall, with his friends ...

Collectible mono box set from the early years.