Stan Kenton - Biography

Stan Kenton, Born as Stanley Newcomb Kenton on December the 15th in 1911 in Wichita, Kansas USA was an American Big-Band-Leader, Swing-Pianist, Arranger and Conductor. He died in August the 25th in 1979 in Los Angeles. He wrote Jazz-History with his bombastic Swing-Orchestra Arrangements, called as Progressive Jazz. Some People called him the Rachmaninov of Jazz. As a 10 year old Boy he had been thaught the piano-Play by his mother, by Frank Hurst and last but not least by Earl Father Hines. In 1941 he founded his first band and he made some recordings. The Capitol-Release Artistry in Rhythm made him well popular in the United-States. The staccato-Play of his reed-section was like a trade-mark for his Arranger abilities. He used five trumpets, four, later on five trombones and five saxophones for his reed-section. That made his Sound remarkable. Later on he made some sound-experiments with a 40-piece band with horns, Wood instruments and strings. He also arranged and recorded compositions with latin-american rhythms. Famous members of his orchestra were: Chico Alvarez, Kai Winding, Art Pepper, Eddie Safranski, Maynard Ferguson, Stan Getz, Shelly Manne, Conte Candoli, Lennie Niehaus, Frank Rosolino, Lee Konitz and Zoot Sims. He went to Europe for a big concert-tournee in 1953. Later on, in the Mid-Fifties, he got Jobs in TV-Shows, because the big orchestra was less successfull, economy spoken. In the year 1977 he harmed his head during an accident. After that he decided to end his career as active musician.

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