One of jazz music’s most innovative bandleaders and educators was born on December 15, 1911 in Wichita, Kansas. His name was Stan Kenton and his influence is still heard in the compositions and arrangements played by jazz ensembles to this day. Kenton is also at least in part responsible for the tremendous growth of jazz programs in middle schools, high schools and colleges during the 1960s and 1970s.

Kenton’s family moved from Kansas to Colorado and then to the Los Angeles suburb of Bell, California during his youth. By the time he was a teen attending Bell High School, Stan Kenton was already playing solo piano gigs in a local eatery for fifty cents per night plus tips. Around the same time, he formed his own eight-piece band called The Bell Tones and began writing arrangements. After spending time playing piano and touring with territory bands throughout southern California, Nevada and Arizona he finally got his big break when he was hired by Gus Arnheim in 1936. It was as the keyboard man with Arnheim that Kenton made his first recordings.

After leaving Arnheim, Kenton would work as a studio musician with NBC in Los Angeles while continuing to study piano and taking composition classes. In 1940 he formed his first band. The group struggled in the early years, although they did have a regular gig at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Newport Beach, California in 1941, and as the band on the Bob Hope radio show during 1943 and 1944. They started to gain popularity after being signed by the new Capitol Records label in 1943 and with their popular record Eager Beaver.

When Pete Rugolo was hired as the band’s staff arranger in 1945, he was given free reign and began to incorporate classical and Afro-Cuban influences into the music the band played. By 1947 the band was touring and experiencing financial and popular success as the “Artistry in Rhythm” band. After a brief hiatus Kanton returned with a larger ensemble known as the "Progressive Jazz Orchestra." This group was followed by additional incarnations including the “Innovations in Modern Music” group that was 39 pieces strong and included 16 string players. Kenton achieved his greatest popularity in the middle of the 1950s with such albums as “Kenton in Hi-Fi” and “Cuban Fire!”

In the early 1960s Kenton reformed his ensemble again, this time including a mellophonium section. Mellophoniums are essentially bell-front French Horns and added a unique texture to the standard big band sound. They recorded a very popular album of Christmas arrangements that was released in 1961. In 1970 Kenton left Capitol Records to form his own label and publishing concern, Creative World headed by trombonist and composer/arranger Bob Curnow.

One of Stan Kenton’s lasting legacies is his support of jazz education. Every summer beginning in 1959 he sponsored what became known as the Stan Kenton Summer Jazz Clinics. They featured members of his orchestra along with leading music educators and musicians working with young players to help them develop the skills necessary to achieve success as a jazz musician. In 1968 Kenton was on the committee that formed the National Association of Jazz Educators.

Here is a link to a 1972 televised performance of Stan Kenton and his Orchestra in London:

"SOUNDS FOR SATURDAY"