The Stage Door Swings

by Stan Kenton

Overview

Stan Kenton's orchestra was never the place to hear a nice tune played sweetly; arrangers including Kenton himself, Pete Rugolo, Bob Graettinger, and Bill Holman commonly emphasized the progressive end of jazz -- advanced harmonics, complex charts, powerful soloists -- much more than such a simple thing as swing. When Kenton decided to record an album of show tunes in 1958, however, he proceeded directly to Lennie Niehaus. Niehaus, an altoist with the Kenton band beginning nearly a decade earlier, had written a chart for "Pennies from Heaven" in 1953 that proved to be a highlight of the Sketches on Standards LP. (Kenton would probably have chosen Bill Russo, who had helmed his two previous standards LPs of the '50s, but he had left the band a few years earlier.) Kenton's band of 1958 didn't boast the firepower of earlier editions, but new arrivals Jack Sheldon and Bill Trujillo contribute a lot to the highlight, "The Party's Over" (which, Michael Sparke's liner notes tell us, was often used by the contrarian Kenton to begin his sets). Elsewhere, Niehaus gives himself a feature on the hard-swinging "Baubles, Bangles & Beads." ~ John Bush

Product Details

Release Date:	08/16/2005
Label:	Capitol
UPC:	0724347755125
Rank:	107947

Tracks

1. Lullaby of Broadway
2. The Party's Over
3. Baubles, Bangles and Beads
4. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
5. Whatever Lola Wants
6. Bali Ha'i
7. Hey There
8. Younger Than Springtime
9. On the Street Where You Live
10. I Love Paris
11. I've Never Been in Love Before
12. All at Once You Love Her

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Stan Kenton   Primary Artist,Piano,Bandleader
Lennie Niehaus   Primary Artist,Sax (Alto)
Bill Perkins   Primary Artist,Sax (Tenor)
Kent Larsen   Primary Artist,Trombone
Jack Sheldon   Primary Artist,Trumpet
Stephen Perlow   Sax (Tenor),Sax (Baritone)
Bill Robinson   Sax (Tenor)
Billy Smiley   Trombone (Bass)
Bob Olson   Trombone (Bass)
Bud Brisbois   Trumpet
Jim Amlotte   Trombone
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson   Sax (Baritone)
Red Kelly   Bass
Archie LeCoque   Trombone
Bill Catalano   Trumpet
Bill Smiley   Trombone (Bass)
Bill Trujillo   Sax (Tenor)
Al Sunseri   Trumpet
Frank Huggins   Trumpet
Jerry Lestock McKenzie   Drums

Technical Credits

Lee Gillette   Audio Production,Producer
Frederick Loewe   Composer
Michael Cuscuna   Reissue Producer
George Forrest   Composer
Adolph Green   Composer
Richard Adler   Composer
Al Dubin   Composer
Oscar Hammerstein II   Composer
Richard Rodgers   Composer
Jerry Ross   Composer
Robert Wright   Composer
Harry Warren   Composer
Michael Sparke   Liner Notes
G. Forrest   Composer
R. Douglas Wright   Composer
Cole Porter   Composer
Betty Comden   Composer
Jule Styne   Composer
Ron McMaster   Mastering
Lennie Niehaus   Arranger
Frank Loesser   Composer
Alan Jay Lerner   Composer