Stan Kenton - Misty

A recording of the legendary Stan Kenton Jazz Orchestra during the 1960 -- 1963 period when Stan Kenton had Conn 16E Mellophoniums in his orchestra. Mellophoniums are traditional "French horn style" mellophones with their bells straighten out to allow the sound of the horn to project directly towards the audience. Contrary to popular belief Stan Kenton was neither the inventor nor a collaborator in the invention of the mellophonium, which was an instrument already in existence for many years. Some members of the orchestra, because of the horn's poor intonation and blaring tone, poorly received the mellophonium. However these issues were mainly the result of mellophonium players using cornet mouthpieces which are far too small and shallow for a mellophone instrument, a practice Stan Kenton quickly put a stop to. When the players switch to standard mellophone mouthpieces with diameters reaching 19mm and larger many of the issues with the horn became manageable and produced a unique tone that fitted perfectly between the saxophones, trumpets and trombones. The mellophonium is closely related to the marching mellophones used in corps, marching bands and jazz groups today. While marching mellophones are superior to the mellophoniums in many ways they still carry some of the hallmark issues that the mellophonium had such as tricky intonation and difficult tone control.

Note: Being a mellophone/mellophonium/marching mellophone player I encourage as many teachers, instructors and marching mellophone players to listen to the Stan Kenton mellophonium sound and try using alto horn mouthpieces (which are just traditional mellophone mouthpieces with trumpet shanks) in an attempt to help keep the Kenton sound alive.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Stan
• Kenton
• Mellophonium
• Mellophone
• Jazz
• Orchestra
• Misty

[JPRUDKIN]

Ace! I think this might be Ray Starling? Mouthpiece wise on the mellophonium I use a modified 2B Wick cornet number; Good from say a G above the staff to oblivion, but not a lot else! As a UK tenor (alto) horn player I also have a spun down alto mouthpiece that fits perfectly, but its quite hard work with very little resistance there, although it enhances the sound loads. If anyone wants to part with a Conn 1 mouthpiece or the F slide (I only have a 1967 Conn with the Eb slide) drop me a line!

[malawolf85]

Yup that's Ray Starling soloing. Yeah the UK alto horn mouthpieces are quite open, I use the US Bach alto horn mouthpieces (really they should be called peck horn mouthpieces because its obvious they were made for the peck horn) which are shallower and less open then the UK alto horn mouthpieces, maybe you should try one of those for the increased resistance for the upper registers without sacrificing the middle and low register richness.

[Brian0324]

i would like to dedicate this number to my dad who died today aged 82,he loved and lived big bands like this.

he was also a very big buddy rich fan ,my dad also played trumpet in big bands for many years.

[estvm]

This arrangement is the reason I spent a career as a trombonist driving pianinsts crazy by playing Misty in C major rather than the more standard Eb. :-) Gary L Johnston

[sifilms]

It angers me when people try to tell me that the Mellophonium and the modern-day Mellophone aren't "real instruments". Stan Kenton's music, along with that of numerous other artists proves quite the opposite...

[callmeBe]

When the brass open up ascending in some of the tutti sections I just love to hear all that the contrary motion in the saxes, bones--lower brass. It's always so nice to hear contrary motion in jazz (it doesn't happen too very often)! Outstanding arrangement by outstanding players. Long live Kenton!!

[themousewillbegone]

no words to describe this piece. except maybe amazing or magic.

[loujug1]

Ray Starling must have been a hell of a musician because he's playing piano on my Buddy Rich album "Big Swing Face".