Stan Kenton
Artistry In Rhythm: Portrait Of A Jazz Legend
Jazzed Media DVD
www.jazzedmedia.com
By George W. Harris

In celebration of what would have been bandleader Stan Kenton’s 100th
birthday, Jazzed Media has released an intriguing and educational DVD
documentary on the life, music and vision of the extraordinarily
visionary and controversial band leader Stan Kenton. In two hours,
through interviews and fascinating film clips, filmmaker Graham Carter
takes you through Kenton’s entire career, cleverly dividing it up by
the different names and styles of his orchestras (The Neophonic Years,
etc). A few fascinating audio clips of Kenton’s musical worldview are
interspersed with some vintage band reels, ranging from the original
one with a gazillion saxes and a rhythm section, through the ones with
a multi-gazillion brass, strings and other various conglomerations.
Performances by the lovely June Christy, the energetic Peter Erskine
and percussive Jack Costanzo show Kenton’s ability to change with the
times, as well as keeping determined to maintain his own voice so that
he “wouldn’t be a band that sounded like Woody Herman.” The historical
insights provided by Howard Rumsey, Bill Holman, Jack Costanzo, peter
Erskine and Dr. Herb Wong are priceless, and even if you think that
Stan Kenton is the Richard Wagner of jazz (“he’s better than he
sounds”), you simply can’t ignore the fact that he kept to his vision
without compromise, and to this day has a following rivaled by no other
big band leader. A welcome program.