Stan Kenton - MacArthur Park (4)

[Gouiverneur]

The responders who were offended that Kenton musicians didn't play 'real jazz' didn't know the difference between 'big band' music (Glen Miller, Kenton, Ellington), which played within arranged charts (with some solos) - still being played six decades later, and various jazz forms from dixieland, be-bop, 'West Coast, fusion, etc. where the combo starts and ends with the same arranged theme, with each player improvising around that theme - sets could vary from night to night.

[MrGeorgeLake]

bari = Wilie Maiden

[bizyz]

the baritone sax player looks like pepper adams but that cant be.

[bonzo328]

Happy Birthday Stan... Big 100! ( year!)

[earcher72]

Played this arrangement in HS...Nice to see this here!

[atadsatirical]

Im a huge jazz fna but i absolutely hate it when these great musicians sellout and play this crap, i know its not as bad as the rubbish we hear on the rdio these days, but the real stuff, jazz of the first half of the 20th century, but more even the mainstream stuff later on, that was the stuff these guys should be playing

[NanBayKid1]

Ramon Lopez added so much to this Band and he gets very little credit. I really enjoyed listening and watching him play.He was in Tampa later on.

[IOLTA]

Dick Shearer = the bomb. What a lead bone.

[yofool987]

I was fortunate enough to see Stan and his band live a couple of times. Simply awesome talent, larger than life.

[mdoan1]

I am a big Stan Kenton fan, but this video is caught in a 60s time warp. I like his original stuff better.

[freephil630]

someone definitely left the cake out in the rain... way to ruin the party...

[darkoanton5]

Pure genius and madness all at once. Killer performance..

[fredfungalspore]

SOME ONE SHOULD TKAE THE TIME TO RESTORE THESE CLASSICS ONTO BLU RAY AND 7.1 

[vdoo84]

I love it when jazz rocks

[AgainstConsistence]

Oh my god. That bass player is a badass. First, he's all jammin' out on his electric. ALL OF A SUDDEN A STYLE CHANGE APPEARS. He doesn't have time to put down his electric. What's he gonna do!?!? He ****ing man handles that upright WHILE he's got his elec. still strapped to him. Victor Wooten can kiss this guy's ass.

[thatmuse76]

I think I have this concert on an old tape I bought about 10 years ago. I seem to remember a rendition of MacArthur Park with the instrumentalists singing the middle verses. If it's not this concert, it's one from the same era (early 70's).

[pejotajazz]

Faltou Mr. Ferguson! and his high notes...kkkkkk

[elmomustdie12]

Happy 99th Birthday, Stan!!

[jonnykilroy1]

Ray Brown is not on bass here there slick...hence the "white dude" on the bass ..Ray is play'n TRUMPET...and is the man...not just the trumpet section is world class every1 on that stage is...

[FarmallDoctor]

Watch the drummer just go about his business in the fast part like it's nothing at all! That's talent!

[10footman]

yeah! ray brown fifth trumpet!!

[abreuferreira1]

@10footman i know ray brown as a extraordinary BASSIST

[terrryc]

Did anybody else come close to Kenton as a brass arranger?

[woosailor]

Kenton used mellophoniums, rich deep brasses,etc. to great effect. Fantastic !!

[HorsePussy]

So THAT'S what they looked like!  Is that Dick Shearer on lead Tbone?

[ladyl34dfoot]

@HorsePussy yes, that was dickus! one helluva 'bone player. if only he hadn't had a taste, along with stan, for vodka, warm. {shudder!}

[CarolinaNIM]

@HorsePussy Yes! As I wrote elsewhere, I went the Kenton Band Clinic just a couple of months after this video was made. Dick Shearer was lead.

[bronxfireradio]

the wall of sound of this band was amazing. it inspired me to pick up the trombone in my teens. if only i had ramon lopez, von ohlen on percussion, dickus on the bone, and stan leading us....

[Mick040457]

Played this arrangement waaaaaay back when I was in college for our President's Christmas dinner. His comment after...."That's what I like to hear. Some nice quiet after-dinner music!" LOL Got to meet Stan Kenton too. One guy who was really passionate about music.

[solostrad]

maynard's version is the BEST

[greatshaitan]

The contrasts in this number are so big. Its for reason like this that Kenton was such a musical genius.

[tonilrogers]

Is that Baron John Von Ohlon on drums? Sorry if last name is mispelled.

[pindaric]

I saw Kenton a number of times, including during his last few years. It was always fun to hear the vocal on this and to see the trumpet players making a big circle with their hands for the sun. Still my favorite big band of all time.

[thethomasmontgomery]

EPIC

[4donbrown]

I saw Stan live at fairfield halls Croydon twice. first was recorded by Decca and released as an album. I lost my copy sometime during the last 40 years. second time I sat front row centre, and heard this. WOW!!! Sadly Stan returned to the US and very soon after suffered a stroke which hastened his sad demise.

[LLJtbone]

Wow, really going back a ways huh! Nice lamb chops on these guys!!

[ghogrebe]

Great band. Does Stan kenton have a version of hey Jude anywhere? on utube or album? Ide like to know wich album. Greg

[1977shadowz]

@ghogrebe ....check out Stan Kenton's Live at Redlands Univ...Hey Jude is on that Live album...tears the house down..make sure you listen to the whole song!

[ghogrebe]

thanks shadowz for your reply and its a funny coincidence that my email is similiar to your name its shadow800@ ghogrebe

[speksteen]

Yes Greg, that's on the album "Live Redlands University"

[flugelsak]

Heard this same group live. What an amazing band. Thanks for posting.

[darknipple]

MacArthur Park is one of those songs I like to call "classic brass".

[famedmlp]

Ca c'est di ''Brass dans l'park'' WOW tks

let's eat the cake in the sunshine say the horns... Beautifully colorful in the park this am. tks... Last week I was in nyc washington pk ...tuned in to New Orleans Musicians ..same Spring fever! Bravo tks for my nice b'thday present...MacArthur Park my 60's favorite.

[amilzyproduction]

JohnC2566 is incorrect, try gordon goodwins big phat band or the GRP allstar big band,

pretty close though

[SakisRakis]

"Stan Kenton band was and will always be the best big band I ever heard"

How can you attest to whether or not it is the best big band he has ever heard? I challenge you to argue why someone's aesthetic preference are or are not 'correct'. Kenton is very different from Gordon Goodwin.

[JohnC2566]

Stan Kenton band was and will always be the best big band I ever heard. The guys that played in Stan's band were the best. The sound of the band moves you thought different moods (Happy, Sad, ETC...). Stan Kenton to me will always me known as a musical genius. His version of "Hey Jude" to me was my first time I heard of Stan Kenton and the song blew me away. It was the live version.

[Freddoslav]

beautiful......

thanks

[sfsphil]

What a shame that the recording isn't all that great. Kenton's band at this time was absolutely awesome. I heard them in person several times at this exact era and was always blown away. He had some of the best musicians around that were playing with him.

[sop1111]

drum corps is better 100%

[enlitened1234]

immature comment

[junkyman2]

Very immature comment, probably doesn't understand what bands like Kenton/Rich/Herman etc..mean to jazz. I mean look at that trumpet line up, thats world class as I'm sure all the players are.

[spacepatrolman]

@junkyman2 Maynard did this too which is better well stan had more instruments [ and vocalists ] thats why gerry mulligan called him the wagner of jazz

[shuckslbj]

Stan Kenton and his genius will live on, y'all.

[FarmallDoctor]

Awesome!!

[generalbullmoose]

Sorry, I like Maynard's version better....

[UC15]

Lesson:

Never, EVER let your trumpet section sing!

[UC15]

Corrally Lesson:

Never, EVER have your trumpet section use hand gestures without first putting big, silly grins on their faces!

[renaissongsman]

Well, someone needs to tell that to a heckofalot of marching band directors, then. And drum corps show designers. I've seen a lot of "hail judge" salutes at field contests from trumpet sections (and most of the rest of the band) with a very *serious* look. In many cases it earned the respect of the crowd in the bleachers.

As for not letting the section sing, there's a lot of BD's guilty of that. Not that it's a biggie either. Many Univ. bands are 1/2 full of college choristers....

[UC15]

renaissongsman,

Yes - clearly, someone DOES need "to tell that to a heckofalot of marching band directors... And drum corps show designers."

Of course such groups would have their members sing out of role: high school and college marching bands, and D&B corps are the dregs of the music world, with only rap left to look down on! Taste and quality are things of which these groups are totally bereft. A crowd that is impressed with such nonsense is even more suspect!

"Hail judge." Pphhfft!

[renaissongsman]

Dregs? Never heard a midwestern bar "cover" band, a garage band from a smalltown or a ton of church organists, I take it? :-D

[UC15]

Yes, dregs.

Put marching band & D&B instruments in the hands of the people on your list & you have precisely the quality of musician in MBs & D&B corps, with the exception of the ocassional talented musician whose director makes him play in MB as a condition of being in the jazz band, etc.

Stan Kenton was a genius, & put together some of the most talented bands ever, right up to the end of his life. But he wasn't perfect, & everyone's entitled to their own 'badly-singing trumpet sections'!

[renaissongsman]

Now, now now. We both apparently don't have enough work to do to keep this argument from growing to epic porportions. But, it's not quittin' time yet.

Yes, a professional group of jazz players like Kenton's, Maynard's, and most of the like could run circles around a marching band, a drum corps, or most any college ensemble with the possible exception of the top lab bands at NT State or Berkeley, etc.

But you need to realize ... there's a lot of people who think they can "play" ...

[renaissongsman]

... that couldn't even make muster for the Garfield Cadets or the University of Ohio's "TBDBITL". There are some "ensembles" that inhale so swiftly Hurricane Ike couldn't fill 'em. And they are *not* every marching band, drum corp, etc., in the land.

Local musical theatre? Community Bands? SPEBQSA? Youth Orchestras? *Absolutely*, you're right: not in the same league. But there is *always* something worse than the currently evaluated group.

Bleh. End of debate.

[UC15]

I went to Berkeley. After 2 weeks in the wilderness, no practicing, I auditioned for Cal Band on trumpet, just in case. I played the worst audition of my life - no tone, no range, no endurance, no nothing! Embarrassing!

The director gushed about how well I did & gave me a top chair on the spot!

I couldn't imagine playing with people who considered that a good performance. I refused!

I played in the Jazz Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra with the other pros. Awsome!

Cal Band stinks!

[joelewis4]

Chris Martin, principal trumpet of the CSO, marched Drum Corps. So did Al Chez of the CBS orchestra. Maynard Ferguson, Wayne Bergeron...the list of professionals goes on. Blast! won a tony award. Most importantly, thousands of music educators have marched DCI and are better teachers because of it. Please do not insult an activity that you obviously know very little about.

[UC15]

joelewis4,

Every marching band will have a few good players. But the bulk of them are mediocre at best.

Obviously there are exceptions. The USMC Band marches, but they're also excellent musicians from front to back, & they don't play stupid 'football music'.

Good music educators can't stand having doing marching and football music, but they do it because that's the job.

As I wrote, the crappy audition I put on for the 'renwowned' Cal Band was considered "great". Res ipsa loquitur.

[schantzman87]

Do you consider mahler's ressurection symphony, canon in D, fire of eternal glory, william tell overture, candide, nessun dorma, phantom of the opera, dave brubeck music, spartacus, fire bird suite, and the list continues "football" music? Im pretty sure those are clasical piece played by varying DCI Corps

[hyedenny]

Anything touched by a drum and bugle corp is butchered, ceases to be 'classic', and becomes football music.

[mynamisdan]

woah now...while I agree that Marching Band and Drum Corps are not on any kind of artistic musical level, it's ignorant to say that it's not entertaining.... stop being a purist and learn to enjoy all forms of entertainment. And maybe you didn't know this, but Kenton thought for a time of getting rid of the saxophone section in his band. Would you still consider him an artist? Or would it be too close to D&B corps for you??

[riffduck]

I agree with the earlier post about Harmon mutes, except the amplified one that Miles used). As for the arrangement, as lot of people laughed at the band's unison vocal in the middle. It was, however, a bit of nostalgia. If you listen to late 40's and early 50's Kenton records you'll hear the same thing on tunes like, "Laura," and "September Song." The reason for it was the record producer didn't think instrumental records sold, so Stan did that to pacify the producers.

[renaissongsman]

And that's in reply to the Harmon comment.

Anyone care to speculate on the width of Shearer's slide vibrato? Inches or cents, either, lol.

[YEP321S]

Seen Vax's band perform this chart live with many of the performers here in his own band, this arrangement is a real treat and experience live or here on this video. Many thanks for sharing!

[shuckslbj]

Kenton's orchestra is terrific, and I happen to like the original song as well.

"Macarthur Park" is one of those things, like "Ishtar", that is infamous for being hated, but actually isn't that bad.

[hastyberford]

Harmon mutes should be outlawed.

[renaissongsman]

Nah, only if they have the stem left in :-P

[generalbullmoose]

Agreed!!

[plimbuff]

Ray Brown solo on trumpet. Beautiful notes.

[waffleboy83]

I love how Richard torres is the only flautist withouty a beard.

[ZiggyTubeYou]

A great artist with a great band performing one of the best melodies in music.

[melody789321]

the harmonics...the arrangement...percussion..what­ a band

[jhoggwoody]

It's all about the Tuba baby!!!

[KLOKFXR]

Probably a Miraphone

[hef1543]

Played this in the York Compehensive Jazz Ensemble (SC) in '78. Man, I had no idea we were this good! Thanks to our director John Bostic for the exposure and expectations!!

[plimbuff]

Your post is unclear.

[LimbSozzled]

on the drums is john von ohlen, the best hope this helps, from a kenton fan in the uk.

[TonyBurrell2]

Check out Video # 9 for a listing of the band personnel or expand the more info button as well.

[poodlemobile]

O and it is cool to see Mr. Vax so young, he came to my school as a guest artist one year.

[poodlemobile]

I got to play this song my senior year, after four years of begging for it. It is an emotionally exhausting Bone 1 part. After I got past the slower section and hit that beautiful double Bb, I felt on top of the world.

[schatzmaster]

Who's the drummer? If you answer, thanks.

[hihats]

I thought there was no sound in flutes...

[CarrionBag]

What wonderful samplings of the sonorous textures that this young Kenton fan has come to enjoy!

[tonymorris2]

Brilliant stuff from one of Stan's best bands