THE NETWORK XXIX (Spring, 2005)

This is THE NETWORK, an Internet newsletter about Stan Kenton for his family, friends, fans, and alumni. This newsletter has been published in “hard copy” since 1985, and since 2002, it has appeared at various websites.

Prologue—For Cyber netters: NETWORK XXIX is being made available to the list of Kentonians on the Kenton e-mail list. How does one subscribe to the Kenton e-mail list -- Kentonia-subscribe@yahoogroups.com If you want this newsletter in cyber-fashion, you may write me at my e-mail address, and I will send it to you. You will also note that all of the URL sites throughout (http://) are in bold, and if your ISP supports this, you can click right on the website and be linked to it. In addition, NETWORK is posted at these websites:

• http://www.cmjo.com/network_xxix.html
• http://kenton.crispen.org/network_xxix.html

I REMEMBER STAN KENTON: Under the rubric, “I Remember Stan,” and “I Remember Stan Kenton,” this Editor has asked alumni of Stan Kenton’s orchestras and others to write a short piece for this “I Remember Stan” issue of THE NETWORK. What follow is their remembrances of Stan Kenton.

Editor’s Note: "Redux" has been published to permit others who were not able to respond to the earlier issue about "I Remember Stan Kenton."

Dave Berk

It was 1955 & I was enrolled at UCLA and working at Ranch Music at Westwood & Pico in West Los Angeles. One morning, Stan came in the shop with June and the Capitol rep to promote the "Kenton Era." Stan was very tall, very handsome and very sweet. I swooned....I had been "collecting" SK since about 1947, and I had seen the band at several New York and Los Angeles venues. He seemed pleased to learn I was a great fan, and signed my copy of the "Era" for me. I couldn't think of anything to say, and I was scared and enthralled. He invited me to a party introducing their (Capitol's) Fall releases. Later, he introduced me to Al Lavinger and Lee Gillette.

Rick Farbach

(L.C.M.D. Tewantin, Queensland, Australia)

In 1957 I was given the opportunity to do a three week Australiatour asa member of Stan Kenton's Orchestra, playing guitar. Lionel Hampton's Orchestra was on the same bill.

On a concentrated tour like that you, of course, get to know everyone pretty well, and an in-debt report about it could fill a book. Butright nowI only want to write aboutStan The Man.

We played four cities in those three weeks, and did 35 concerts. There were plenty of opportunities for jam sessions and discussions. I was 35 at the time, and Stan was about 10 years my senior. He was very approachable and always ready to give opinions and advice. I learned a lot on that tour, especially from Stan. He came out with suggestions and information about things we had never thought about. He said there are always people, who figure out things. For example - if you play a very slow tune and improvise on it, it makes your playing sound more lively if you think in double time, or even quadruple time. I have carried that with me ever since -and other interesting pieces of information.

When our Australian member from the tour -tenor playerDave Rutledge - visited the US a few years after the tour, and went to a Kenton concert, he went back-stage to see Stan, who opened his arms wide and called out: "Dave"!

Stan Kenton offered trombone player/arranger, Johnny Bamford a position in his organization in the US, but Johnny couldn't take that up - something to do with the taxman. A few years later Johnny died.

My wife and I decided that if we ever had a son, we would call him Kenton, and we did.

The tour was in April and at Christmas each of the 10AustralianStan KentonOrchestra members got a Christmas present from Stan: a golden money clip with our individual names sawn out of the metal, and "In appreciation STAN KENTON" engraved on the back. There were no money clips known 'Down Under'at that time, and we all thought they were tie clips, and wore them as such (ha,ha,ha).

Friend, Hero, Second Father, Favorite Teacher and Favorite Musician

Mary Fluck

Like my parents, there wasn't a time when Stan Kenton wasn't in my life one way or another. Mom and Daddy were fans long before I was born so I've decided that loving and understanding the Kenton "sound," is hereditary like hair and eye color! The music was always there from the time I could remember.

When I was just about eight years old, we became friends with the band through the silliness of Mike Vax and Dick Shearer and Mom's courage at asking the whole band up to our house for a picnic...Stan was away from the band due to illness and Mike and Dick somehow agreed to it even though they weren't quite sure what the "Old Man" would think...well, he came, when he saw that little Johnny, the 12 year-old buck toothed tuba player from down the street or Janie and her toe-shoes and pink tu-tu weren't going to make an appearance in our backyard, he relaxed and the band had a few hours of what we now call "downtime." That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between us, Stan and any member of the 70s band.

I look at old “Gunsmoke” reruns now and watch James Arness. His honesty and well, "no bullshit" attitude reminds me of Stan. Everyone looks up to the marshall in Dodge City. I saw the look in the faces of long time fans, young students, members of his band and I know how much people looked up to Stan, too.

I had the good fortune to see his personal side so many times. See the delight he took in the simple things in life while he fought the good fight for music education and the nonsense (read: “bullshit”) that was the music business at the time. Like the good marshall, he stood up often for what he believed to be right for the thing he loved most - the music. How it should be played, how it should be listened to, etc.

He once asked me to "Just Listen, will you do that for me, Mary? I don't give a damn what type of music it is...just give it a chance and listen to it! You may not like it...you can always turn it off...but give it chance."

He also delighted in the fact that I tried several different instruments while I knew him but...er, finally settled on the piano. He insisted that I attend his piano clinic during the clinics at Towson. I learned more about playing the piano from him in those short hours then all the "lady church organists piano teachers" (his description!) could ever teach me. "Don't be timid with it...play the damned thing" and "Even if you're playing one note repeatedly on the piano in a band situation...it's all part of the total sound...it needs to blend in and be heard." (Think the intro to “Intermission Riff!”)

There was also the best piece of advice - "Don't put all your strength when you're playing into your wrists and fingers...that's very tiring for the piano player...if you don't feel it in your upper arms and shoulders by the end of a night's performance, you weren't heard in the third balcony." No, he wasn't telling us to "BANG" on the piano...just make yourself heard! Notice how soft quiet piano parts are so effective when he plays them...and how the more dramatic passages stand out? I love to listen to him play...and listen to how everything blends in a Kenton piece.

Thanks, Stan...I will always look up to you...and I miss you.

Bob Fogle

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

[Reprinted from Marvin Stamm’s “Response to Cadenzas: Edition XIV” with permission]

I first saw him not in person, but on TV in a show that I think was called "Kenton '55". I was about 13 or 14 at the time. The dynamic nature of this man when he raised his arms and took control of his band left a lasting impression on me. I saw the band in person several years after that date.

In October 1960 Stan and his band were appearing at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens with his then wife, Ann Richards, on a fantastic double bill with Count Basie and his band and singer Joe Williams. (Joe left the band 3 months later to go out on his own; we later became good friends.

Anyway, a friend of mine and I, two nineteen year olds, decided that we were going to interview Basie and Kenton. We had interviewed Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond a week before, but, other than that, we had no experience. We told a slight fib, saying that we were from the university press and were able to set up a conversation with each bandleader that same evening. I had a small plug-in reel-to-reel tape recorder (this was long before cassettes), and we wrote out some "teenage type questions." We spoke with the Count after his set at half time in the concert and spoke Stan at the conclusion.

Mr. Kenton, as we called him, was so giving to us two young guys and answered everything forced upon him. It was World Series time, and we asked each leader who would win baseball's classic. Basie's answer was, "Yanks, you kidding!" Kenton was more articulate and said that the Yankees had won it too often, and it would be good for baseball if Pittsburgh won. (Bill Masaroski hit the game- winning homer, and the Pirates did win in, I believe, the seventh game.)

I still have the tape of these classic conversations and transcribed them for a magazine, "Big Band World" a few years ago. I saw the Kenton band many times after that at Massey Hall, the Palais Royal and other local venues. I guess I saw you while you were in the band but honestly don't remember. I remember one time the late Dee Barton was playing trombone and the next time that the band came to town he was the drummer.

Later into the 1970's, even when Stan was ill and Hank Levy and Buddy DeFranco fronted the band, I always enjoyed their presentation. The band was always filled with great enthusiasm.

Stan actually died on my mother's birthday, Aug 25th, 1977.

(Note from Marvin Stamm: I was on the Kenton band at these performances. As a matter of fact, Dee Barton and I were members of the North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band at the same time, and, after joining the Kenton Band, I recommended that Stan bring Dee on the band.)

Vic Hall

I'm probably one of a hundred and fifty jazz deejays that Stanley charmed and befriended during his career. I loved his music from the start, and I came to love the man over the years I knew him. The one event that pretty well sums up my feelings about Stan, occurred many years ago. You need to know that my first wife, the mother of my two daughters, considered my jazz music to be "the other woman", her rival for my attention. It was bad enough when I merely collected jazz records, but when I was offered, and accepted, a volunteer gig as a jazz disc jockey on the local university radio station, the NPR affiliate WUSF 89.7 FM here in Tampa - the fat was really in the fire!. Incidentally that was 37 years ago, and I'm still doing it. One day my friend Rod Baum, program director and jazz deejay with WFLA, the local NBC radio affiliate, phoned me to announce that Stan Kenton was coming to Tampa to play a concert, he, Rod, was setting up to interview him and wanted to know if I'd also like to interview him?.

Would I indeed? - it must have taken me no more than about six milliseconds to answer that one in the affirmative.

Well, finally the great day rolled around and I got to meet this legendary gentleman at the WFLA studios. He greeted me with a genuine warmth and interest that simply gave me goose-pimples!. We then proceeded to record the two interviews, Rod's and mine, back-to-back at WFLA to save time and travel to our station.

When the interviews were over Rod was scheduled in a meeting, so he took me aside and asked me if I'd take Stan wherever he wanted to go. Spend more time with this god-like creature?? - you betcha!!..

We boarded my car, I pulled out of the parking lot and asked Stan where he'd like to go. He looked at his watch and said "Oh it's still early, and I have nothing planned - so why don't we just go to your place and relax!. Oh my God! - immediatel the specter of the dragon-lady, who hated jazz and jazz musicians came into my mind, which then went blank and could not come up with a plausible excuse for not going there. Resigned to my fate I drove, very slowly, to my home - pulled in the driveway, Stan hopped out, practically ran to the front-door - and knocked. Mae answered the door, took one look at the man whose pictures were all over our house - and her jaw dropped open!. By then I'm at the door too, in time to hear Stanley, with a big grin on his face holler "Hiya Mae! I'm Stan Kenton - what's it like being married to this jazz nut"!!. She instantly melted into a beatific smile, and led him to the living-room couch, where he kicked off his shoes, while Mae hovered over him offering him coffee, soft drinks, booze, and shortly thereafter sprawled his 6' 4" frame along the couch - perfectly comfy, and at home!.

I asked him if he'd like to hear some music and he said" OK, anything but mine"!. I played him some Clarke-Boland big band which he really enjoyed, but he did doze off during the last bits. I finally drove him to his hotel, then drove home reflecting on the magical influence that Stan had had on me, and my wife. Over the ensuing years I had several other opportunities to spend a little time with Stanley, and these encounters only served to reinforce my conviction that this was a very special human-being, apart from his magnificent music!. I deeply cherish the memories of the moments I spent in the company of Stan Kenton.

Steven P. Harris

Pasadena, California

I had already been a Kenton fanatic long before meeting the giant figure at age thirteen in May, 1975. When the time came to finally ask for his autograph during a one-night stand at Disneyland. It was nothing less than a surreal experience. Even though I had read about his energetic "presence", it was still close to overwhelming.

It wasn't until after his passing when I realized that Stanley, too, had his own colossal demons like most of us. But as I write this, exactly 30 years later, it's easy to become fixated on those few single moments in my youth, because the feeling was so new and intense. My anticipation of seeing his band the second time only deepened. Of course, the leader wasn't the same man on that last courageous tour of '78, but his band was certainly one of the best and one of the most underrated. We, his fans, friends and family, should consider ourselves blessed for having Stanley as long as we did. Let's cherish the memories, as we will never see anyone of Kenton's caliber ever again.

Bill Jadlos

Pinehurst, NC

July 1954. I had just graduated from high school and took a bus with two friends from Albany, N.Y. to Providence then on to Newport, R.I. On July 17,1954 we entered the Newport Casino, a private tennis club where the grass looked like the richest shag rug except that it was a deep, dark green.

This was the site of the first Newport Jazz Festival which, on that evening, featured Eddie Condon and Lee Wiley, an early MJQ with Milt Jackson and Percy Heath, Horace Silver on piano and Kenny Clarke on drums; then Dizzy Gillespie with Hank Mobley; then Lee Konitz; then Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis and Ray Brown; then Ella Fitzgerald and finally an extended jam session that included the master of ceremonies on piano. That M.C. was Stan Kenton and that evening was the first time I had ever laid eyes on the man. I'd listened to the albums and we had hoped that the band would be a Newport as well but we had to be satisfied with the sight, the presentation and the piano. The concert ended at one in the morning. We, three 17 year olds, went boldly backstage and ran into Stan Kenton -- and spent the next twenty minutes talking with him and an additional ten minutes with him and Ella. I can't tell you what we talked about (what did 17 year olds talk about?) and I can tell you that I didn't know how special that moment was. I can see it today clearly and remember only that Stan was not in a hurry to get rid of us and even called Ella to join us. In the following years I met and talked with him several times at various locations abound the country (the original Birdland in NYC; Basin Street East; a bowling alley in New Jersey, clubs in St. Louis, Baltimore, the Opera House in Chicago, a Kansas City Jazz Festival among others) but that first time was and will be the best.

Keith LaMotte

Spokane, Washington

Tony: Since you mentioned that the thoughts don't have to just be about our time on the band, I've tried to think about other things that molded my memories of "the old man". I also thought it might be interesting to hear an actual story of how an inexperienced kid from Pasadena with virtually no professional playing experience, became a member of the Stan Kenton Orchestra by being in the right place at the right time - not by being a killer trumpet player.

I first heard recordings of the band while I was in Junior HS and HS in Pasadena.Based on what I remember, bolstered by the old itineraries in Steven's book, I first heard the band live in January of '56. My dad took me to the Shrine Auditorium in LA to hear Stanalong with June Christy, Buddy DeFranco, and Prez Prado's band. Igraduated from HS in June of that year.

Next time was in September, '57 at the Crescendo in Hollywood. I was still underage, but Stan had made arrangements with the club to create a special area for underage fans in the Club. I brought along my new album of Kenton With Voices, and had him sign it. The only thing I remember was him saying to stay to school and finish my education.

Which I did. Regrettably, I never got to the Rendezvous while the band was there even though it was only a matter of an hour from my home. But I did see the band again in February, '59 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

While I was approaching graduation (January '61) I met with my trumpet teacher and he asked me what I wanted to do with my music. I told him that my only musical goal (I had changed my major to Sociology a long time before) was to play in the Stan Kenton Orchestra.

What I didn't know was that he had met Stan on several occasions owing to Stan's interest in education. Next thing I new Dr. Faulkner had called him at the office on Robertson Blvd. in LA and arranged for me to meet him.

Christmas vacation of 1960 I called the office. We talked for a while and he said to call him as soon as I got out of school in January. So sometime early in '61 I walked trembling into his office and we had a nice chat. I couldn't remember what we talked about to save my life - other than to tell me that the band was going to begin to rehearsing in a couple of weeks and I should come by and sit in.

I left there shaking like a leaf. Bear in mind that I had had exactly ZEROtruly professional playing experience in my entire young life. The closest I came to an actual gig was an unsuccessful tryout (summer of '60) with the Elliott Brothers tentet at Disneyland. Jimmy Zito got the gig.

So I eventually get a call from Amlotte to come to this dingy rehearsal hall on Melrose Blvd. in Hollywood. Before I got the call to go to the rehearsal I had spent hours playing along with all my records. I felt I knew the music pretty well and anticipated that I would be playing stuff I already knew. I was in for quite a shock.

It was probably mid February of 1961. The band was rehearsing the new Mellophonium library and I sat there every day for probably a week before Jim motioned to me to get my horn out. There was really only one open chair -- already seated were Dalton, Bob Rolfe, Sanford Skinner, and Ernie Bernhart (who was subbing until Marv got out of school). So it was a section chair -- probably second & third.

I played a couple of tunes, scuffling pretty badly. I should add that, to this day, sight reading is my weakest skill. So when I was asked to play lead on something, they passed out a brand new chart (Gene Roland I think) on “Stompin' At The Savoy.” It had more notes on it than any piece of music I had ever seen. As I remember, it was heavily laden with triplet figures, not awful range, and I played loud but not very accurately.

We did take a second shot at it and I did better, but Larry McGuire got the chair -- for obvious reasons. He was a veteran LA player at the time and clearly wiped me out.

But, apparently I played well enough so that when Amlotte asked Dalton if he thought I played well enough to maybe play Mellophonium, Stan asked me if I would consider it. In about 30 seconds, after catching my breath, I said “yes.”

I spent every waking hour changing my pitch orientation from Bb to F and became a member of the first Mellophonium section. I started out playing 4th but was playing most of the lead after about three months. I hold the distinction of being the only player who every played both Mellophonium and trumpet onStan's band after moving to the trumpet section to begin the '62 tour. And the rest is history.

Here are a couple of little bits of what I would call "human interest" reflections of my time with the band.

#1 - Carl Saunders and I did two things together that might be considered a little weird - when we did a day sheet and got up late in the morning, we would often seek out a YMCA, or school or someplace where we could play basketball. Fortunately we never got hit in the chops with the ball.

#2 - The other thing is that whenever we played an Amusement Park Ballroom we would take off and ride the roller coaster during intermissions.

#3 - One of the funniest things that ever happened was when, right near the end of the trombone intro to “Street Of Dreams” where it goes to a piano solo, someone from the evil trumpet section slipped a whoopie cushion under Dave Wheeler’s chair. In the beautiful quiet of the piano solo the trombones sat down and that sound ripped thru the room. The look on Stan's face would have peeled paint off the wall.

#4 - the personally most embarrassing moment cameduring November of one year.Unbeknownst to me, my father had contacted Stan about my birthday and arranged to have a cake for the band during intermission. According to my own itineraries it was at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, IL, November 12, 1962.

#5 - dual citizenship. Sometime during the '62 tour, one of the Mellophonium players was sick enough that he couldn't play. So the band set up with the horns and trumpets all in one row at the top of the bandstand and I sat in the middle - playing Mellophonium part of the time and trumpet the other. Talk about a split personality.

#6 - during the '61 tour, Jerry (Lestock) McKenzie was in an awkward position. His wife Sylvia had just delivered their first child and she wouldn't let Jerry go on the road without her. So Jerry had to drive his red '60 or '61 Olds 98 convertible on the road. We had become pretty good friends so I, being the naive new kid, agreed to do some driving for them. I would ride in the bus and try to sleep until one of Amlotte's damned mid AM eat stops, then get in and drive while Jerry, Sylvia and the baby slept until we hit the day sheet at the next town.

#7 - One time in the winter of '61 we were (I think) on the way from Chicago to Minneapolis. I was driving (I'm from Pasadena, remember) and the roads were covered with snow, and while carefully negotiating some very slippery streets in some little town, I did at least two 360's before ending up next to a curb. Those '61 Olds 98 Convertibles didn't have 4-wheel drive!

By now I'm sure I've bored you to tears! I probably could come up with some more but I've got to get to copying some Tower of Power charts for the R&R band I play in.

Joe Lang

I saw Kenton many times starting with the "Road Show" tour with June and the Freshmen. Two are most memorable. In, I believe 1969, the Kenton band appeared at Central Park in NYC with Chris Connor and the Four Freshmen. I had not seen the band since the "Road Show" concert mentioned above. The band was really kicked by John Von Ohlen, and there was one of my favorites from the old Maynard Ferguson Birdland Dreamband, Willie Maiden, in the sax section. Fast forward several years, and I caught the band at Barney Google's on 86th Street in NYC. During one of the breaks, Kenton sat with some friends at a table adjacent to mine. I have never been an autograph collector, but figured that I could not let this opportunity pass, so I asked Stan to sign a napkin for me. He kindly did so, and I was thrilled. Unfortunately, I left the napkin on the table, and an overly efficient waiter scooped it up and crumbled it before I could stop him. Stan saw this happen, and got a more appropriate piece of paper on his own, signed it and passed it over to me with a big grin. Needless to say, I was even more thrilled this time. He was a special man.

Bill Lichtenauer

Of course, it washis gloriously exhilarating and intoxicating music that captured me for life. But of equal importance was the substance of the man. World famous, but so approachable and down-to-earth! Warm, thoughtful, caring, helpful, empathetic, friendly,loving!! He was truly good to me andhe is my idol. Oh, to once again watch him take that stroll from the piano to conclude a piece in front of the band.

Ken McCoy

Seffner, FL

The scene was Cincinnati's Moonlight Gardens in the early 1960s. I was about 15 years old. I was standing on the ballroom floor right at the front of the stage. Stan Kenton was sitting at the piano just to my left. The full Mellophonium orchestra was cookin' on Bill Holman's arrangement of "Granada". Near the end of the chart Stan got up from the piano, the rhythm section was relentless. He stretched his arms from nearly one side of the stage to the other, let out a loud grunt and gave a downbeat like he was parting the Red Sea. All 22 musicians played the final dramatic chords and I was in heaven. It was as close to a religious experience as I've ever had. Remember Stan Kenton? How could I ever forget?

Remembering Stan

Peter C. Newman

Toronto, Canada

Every concert was the same.

Before the music began, Stan Kenton would be hovering at the back of the hall, trying to judge the audience’s tastes, fretting about the quality of the out-of-tune piano (“Another damn Yamahaha”). Looking his years, he appeared vulnerable in repose, the wreck of a spent man, with blood running through his shoes.

Then, suddenly, he was on stage, shouting, “Let’s go!” The orchestra would start majestically; tuning itself on “Here’s That Rainy Day.” Stan would glance over at the solid anchor of Dickus in the trombone section, they exchanged quips. The next number was “Aquarius,” piloted by Baron Von Ohlen on drums, performing acrobatics on his loosened skins.

As the concert proceeded, the listless Kenton had been transformed by the orchestra’s musical hail storm and urgent lyricism. He stood his ground in front of the avalanche of sound, erect and alive, joyful as a young buck, cakewalking in the sun. The indignities of 35 years on the road, the billion double vodkas, stale glazed Danish, inedible Spanish omelets, the big body obliged to wash with those tiny pink squares of motel Cashmere Bouquet, the scruffy souls of the scruffy promoters -- none of it mattered as Kenton began an extended piano solo.

His playing was delicate, all slides and whispers, as evocative as a Picasso drawing, with glints and ghosts of other times, each chord the remembrance of his music’s past and future. Too soon the concert ended with “Artistry in Rhythm” and a high-trumpet “A-Train” encore. Suddenly it was over. The instruments were being packed. The bus was warming up. Kenton had vanished. Only the magic of his presence remained.

A quarter century after his death, he lives on in our dreams and reveries, in his music and that of his disciples. We loved him for his music but we also worshipped the man himself. He was our road father, our idol, the incarnation of a way we'll never be, but wish we could have been. He haunts us still!.

Tom Stevens

[Reprinted from Marvin Stamm’s “Response to Cadenzas: Edition XIV” with permission]

I knew Stan as something between an acquaintance and a friend. I met him in1965, which was my first year in the L.A. Philharmonic as 3rd and assistant first trumpet (to Bob DiVall). Stan was dating, and eventually married, my friend and next-door neighbor in the Hollywood Hills, Jo Ann Hill. I socialized with the two of them on a few occasions, both at Jo Ann's and later, after their marriage, at his Palos Verde home.

What an enigmatic character - at the forefront of what he called "modern American music," but he hated modern art and architecture and had Victorian furniture in his home, or his backing George Wallace for President while endorsing, after many years of opposite-type thinking, the growing civil rights movement. Of course, his generation experienced change probably as no other Americans had previously; so, he was probably not that much of an anomaly relative to his age group. And there were, as you know, those among his colleagues who thought he was merely a mini-talented front man whose only real contribution was discovering and nurturing talented young musicians.

My favorite Stan stories included his birthday party (remember he had two birthdays and never was certain which one was the real one) in 1966 where he had some alcohol in his veins and told Dalton Smith that I played in the Philharmonic and made more money than he paid Dalton, and yet I never played above the staff! (Of course, Stan's idea of above-the-staff began after a couple of ledger lines)

Another one is when I took him and Jo Ann to see the movie, "A Man and a Woman" at a theater in Westwood. He had a little ‘65 Porsche C that would only hold two persons, so I drove us there in my car. At the theater, he insisted upon sitting in the front row. His movie viewing preference was like the band - “in your face and larger than life.” We started seated in the middle, but he couldn't stand it; so, he leapfrogged over row after row to get to the front seats while Jo Ann and I exited the row and walked down the aisle to them. I'll never forget the sight of what, in those days, was considered to be a tall man skipping over the seats to get to the front.

The third story was when he told me of the problems his arrangers/copyists had with the transpositions of the original materials for he Wagner album. I told him those things were simple to do (i.e. They had originally misread “Es” as the key of E rather than Eb and didn't understand things like German bass clarinet notation/transpositions - the clef and the key vs. the sounding pitch - apparently caused some real problems) He challenged me to transpose at sight some music for him, which I did (in the staff). He then had that disgusted look of his and told me if he had met Jo a few years earlier he could have saved a ton of time and money hiring me to do the transpositions. (Thank God he didn't - could you imagine a more daunting/boring task?)

I asked him some trumpet questions once, and I still remember the scene: We were at Jo's house, and he was sprawled across the carpet in the living room. He told me Buddy Childers was the best lead player he ever had and elucidated the reasons why he thought that. And, he also mentioned the usual suspects like Count and Maynard. When I asked him about the then young generation (which is the reason I am writing you), he was not as complimentary except he did mention you. I remember it as if it were yesterday because it was the first time I had ever heard your name: he said, almost verbatim if memory serves, there is this young guy, Marvin Stamm, and if he can manage to keep his head on straight he could develop into one of the most (positively verbatim here) "exciting players ever." (apologies if I told you that one previously) That's your equivalent of Zubin's "when I found Stevens, he knew nothing!"

The last time I saw Stan was at a restaurant in Brentwood. (ca. Early 70s?). The Creative World project was in its embryonic stage at that time, and he had purchased a house on Beverly Glen in Westwood

LOOKING BACK by Joe Urso

(Excerpt from my book,The Upper Register)

I can remember going to the Paramount theater in New York in 1947 and 1948 to see and hear the great Stan Kenton Big Band. It wasn't until a few years later that I found out exactly who some of the musicians were. One was an Italian bass trombone player named, Bart Varsalona, his name stuck in my head because he was the band's funny man. Bart shouted out, "Sawzeech His Own" referring to a movie titled "To Each His Own" during the performance. (Editor’s Note: “sawzeech” is slang Italian for “sausage.” The actual word is “salciccia.”)

At these Paramount theater band and show events, they did show B pictures on the screen and some fairly good first class motion pictures, a cartoon, movietone news reels, popcorn ads, and once in awhile the ushers would pass around containers for a cancer or major illness and saving bond drives. After that was all done we would settle down into our seats as the theater darkened and the music muffled behind very thick curtains. The dim lights got brighter and as the curtain started to part you could see a large figure of a man with his arms in a waving motion leading a band all dressed in the same type of suits to the music of "Artistry In Rhythm."

Call it a thrill; I had goose pimples. My friend, Manny, sitting next to me kept saying, "I told ya, I told ya..." Manny and I had taken a bus from Elizabeth, New Jersey to the Paramount via the Lincoln tunnel just 14 miles from the big apple. The roads were bumpy because the ice and snow hadn't all melted. I swear I told the driver it was like "roller skating on potatoes." We walked about 2 or 3 long blocks and a short block to the Paramount (maybe 3 short and 1 long, whocares?) We hit a few record shops on the way too.

Kenton's trumpet section had Chico Alvarez, Ray Wetzel, Buddy Childers, John Anderson and Ken Hanna. Actually there were 3 lead trumpet men in the section, Chico, Ray and Buddy. They blew the roof off of the theater and a high note trombone player named Skip Layton who blew on a chart called "Capitol Punishment" it knocked everyone out. On "Minor Riff" the brass section just kept building and building. "Machito" and "Collaboration"" followed, what a gas. Even June Christy singing "Soothe Me" was super as the brass section came on so strong it would lay anybody in the aisle...no BS here.. I was sold on this band from then on... period.

I was visiting my Mom and brother in Denver back in 1965 andhad read in the newspaper that Stan was going to be appearing at the famous/fantastic Red Rocks amphitheater out under the stars that very evening. So, I literally ran out of the house and got there early. It was being broadcast by WNBC TV. Stan had been flown in special from Breckenridge where he was staying. I carried Dalton Smith's trumpet and got in free. It was a windy night so, I thought fast and went to the electrician's locker to get nuts and bolts. I started placing them on top of each musician's sheet music to keep them from blowing away, all along crouching down while the cameras were rolling! I got to Stan last at his piano, putting nuts and bolts on his sheet music. He turned to me and said affectionately, "thanks a lot, horseshit!"

What a memory that Stan possessed that he knew my face from all the times I had seen him over the years so, hence, the nickname based on the phrase, "you're all over like horseshit." While I'm not overly flattered by his unique moniker, it was still an honor to know he was impressed with my ingenuity andappreciated my repeated attendance at his concerts.

Kenton Krew Back at Balboa After Long Vacation

Lennie Wines

[Editor's Note: I left this piece as it was sent to me. Tony A.]

Fellow Kentonians:

This is from the Long Beach City College “Viking.” LBCC billed itself as the world largest community college and the “Viking” as the world largest such weekly.

Please keep in mind that the following was written by a 20-year-old just starting college after service in WW II (joined up when I was 17). So, the misspellings and wrong first names are understandable, right?

Len Wines

Friday, October 3, 1947

Artistry jumped at Bal last week end. It was the Kenton Krew returning to their birthplace after a six months' vacation due to Stan's lllness.

The half-year vacation paid off. There are still some jazz notes of goodness hovering over the Pacific ocean. The ozone couldn't absorb them all.

Swinging Into action on arranger Pete Rugolo's incredible offerings, the band stacks up something like this:

• Trumpets: The power-laden horns are led by rotund Ray Whetzel and Buddy Childers. Most of the jazz trumpet is still played by Chico Alvarez, with Ken Hanna holding down fifth chair.
• The only new member of the brilliant quintet is ex-Herman and Krupa sideman Al Porcino. Talk about notes beyond the audio frequency, Childers goes higher than is humanly possible and Porcino goes higher than Childers.
• Troms: New addition Eddie Bert and Milt Bernhardt collaborate on most of the lead trombone work. Harry Forbes and bass slip horn artist Bart Varsalona still stand out in the section.
• Reeds: On top of the reeds, playing lead alto, is Kenton-find George Weidler. George plays an alto somewhere between Bothwell and Hodges--beautiful phrasing, exciting tone.
• Taking over Vido Musso's lead tenor book is June Christy's husband and two-year Kenton veteran Bob Cooper. Cooper plays much more tenor than the critics generally give him credit for. He has superb ideas and perfect execution; watch for Bob to become one of the top tenor men. in the business.
• When the section plays alone on "Opus in Pastels," for exampIe, its languid phrasing and haunting tone can never be forgotten.
• Rhythm: Long known for new sounds, Stanley achieves a fantastic beat through the use of bongo drum, played by Joe Constanza and Brazilian concert guitarist Laurlndo Almedia. It is said that the only two English words Almeida speaks are "Be" and "Bop." Eddie Safranskl on bass, Shelly Manne on drums and a lad by the name of Stan Kenton on piano also contribute to the band's best.
• Vocal: Bob Cooper's wife, June Christy, is singing better than ever. Check "How High the Moon." La Christy's offering is sensational.

Kenton has sojourned north for a few weeks, but his Long Beach followers will have the opportunity to see him at the Auditorium on October 5. There are no superlatives to replace one evening's listening to the dynamicism of Stan Kenton.

Leonard R. Wines (aka Lennie Wines aka Len Wines)

I remember like it was yesterday (actually, it was nearly 60 years ago), Gene Howard taking me aside and pointedly saying, "Len, you know we have other clients besides Stan Kenton." He was correct, of course. His public relations firm (all three of us) represented all of Carlos Gastel's clients: Nat Cole, Peggy Lee, Mel Torme, Nellie Lutcher, and Stan.

But in my defense, it was my love of Stan Kenton since seeing the band at the Rendezvous in 1941 that led me to work for Gene. Kenton old timers will remember Gene as an early Kenton vocalist (after Red Dorris, if I remember correctly).

On the road, Gene was the band's principal photographer, hauling his Speed Graphic as the other musicians hauled their instruments.

I've forgotten how that developed into his forming the firm, but I joined when he and Jeannette Wormser, his sole employee, constituted the payroll. We had offices at 951 or 971 (who can remember that long ago?) N. La Cienega in Los Angeles.

In those days, swing music was ubiquitous on the radio just as it is difficult to find a station not playing some form of rock today. So our principal targets were dee-jays. Jeannette concentrated on columnists both in the trades and in general circulation pubs.

I got the job because I was entertainment editor of my college newspaper and wrote a column, often about Stan. How that exactly led to my being hired I no longer remember. I do know whenever the band was anywhere close to Long Beach, so was I.

Besides helping to promote the greatest orchestra ever, let me close by telling about the high light of my time with Gene Howard (whom I left to return to college). Throughout July of 1948, the band played every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Rendezous in Balboa. At the time, the sax section was comprised of Art Pepper, Bob Cooper, George Weidler, Warner Weidler (their sister was actress Virginia Weidler who play brat parts), and, of course, Bob Gioga.

I was there for each gig. As was Doris Day for many of them. She wasmarried then to George Weidler and was trying to patch their failing marriage. They spent time during each intermission. When the band returned to the bandstand, she and I would repair to a nearby bar and exchange warstories (mine from WW II). She was genuinely a sweet person who was already achieving some fame in the motion picture world.

So, who can ask for anything more…Stan Kenton's music and Doris Day's company.

STAN LEVEY: Jazz drummer in at the birth of bebop

By Steve Voce

From the Manchester (UK) Independent Online Edition. ("Reprinted by permission from The Independent, Obituaries, 23 April 2005.")

Dizzy Gillespie was berated by his fellow black musicians in Philadelphia for having Stan Levey a white drummer, in his band. It was 1942 and Levey was only 16. “Show me a better black drummer and I’ll hire him,” said Gillespie.

Bebop was beginning and working for Gillespie meant that Levey was at the heart of it. He, Max Roach and Kenny Clarke were the first drummers to drive bands using the eccentric Bebop accents. Levey was entirely self-taught. ”That’s why I play left-handed, although I’m right-handed. It just felt easier that way.”

But it wasn’t just a question of being in the right place at the right time. Levey was one of the greatest of all drummers, who could grace a Charlie Parker Quintet as well as he could drive the massive Stan Kenton Orchestra.

He was possibly the most tasteful drummer ever and a prince amongst musicians. By the time he walked away from the music business he had played on countless albums, had been a key instrumentalist on the soundtracks of more than 300 films and had appeared on over 3,000 television shows.

Aside from his work in jazz groups, Levey was, from 1943, a successful heavyweight boxer who had boxed at Madison Square Gardens and had appeared on the same bill as Joe Louis.

”I carried on fighting until 1949 and I boxed a lot of very good fighters, who beat the crap out of me!”

He had worked regularly as an accompanist with Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday Barbra Streisand, Bobby Darin and many more. He also played in George Shearing’s Quintet.

”In the early Sixties I worked with Victor Feldman, one of my favourite musicians, backing Peggy Lee. She was a very nice lady, a great musician and a terrific singer. I also toured the world with Ella Fitzgerald. I toured Japan with Pat Boone, but I’d like to forget that.

Whilst working with Norman Granz’s “Jazz at the Philharmonic” group in the late Forties Levey was called back to New York to settle a legal matter. Granz refused to let him go and wouldn’t give him the back pay owed so that Levey could pay his rail fare. Levey knocked Granz out with a standard lamp, took the money and returned to New York. Never one to hold a grudge, Granz forgave him and Levey worked regularly for the promoter in later years.

Levey had driven the big bands of Kenton, Benny Goodman (“he never spoke to me”), Woody Herman, Billy May, Henry Mancini, Quincy Jones and others.

With Gillespie’s encouragement, Levey moved to New York when he was 17 in 1944. He met for the first time and was influenced by another drummer, Max Roach. Levey joined a small band led by Coleman Hawkins that included the young Thelonious Monk and made his first record, although he had tried to leave the studio from fright, with the formidable pianist Art Tatum. He also played for Ben Webster and on and off during 1945 with Woody Herman’s First Herd, where he was called in to replace the frequently indisposed Dave Tough. During that year he was also a member of Charlie Parker’s Quintet.

When Dizzy Gillespie was invited to take the first Bebop group from New York to play a season at Billy Berg’s club in Los Angeles, he chose Levey and Parker to go with him. Parker was already mentally ill from excessive drug and alcohol abuse.

They went by rail and on the coast to coast trip the steam train needed to stop in the desert for a couple of hours to refill its tanks with water. Idly looking out of the window Levey suddenly saw a naked Parker running off into the desert. He rushed to tell Gillespie.

”You go and get him,” said Gillespie. ”No, it’s your band,” retorted Levey. “But you’re his friend,” said the ever crafty Gillespie. Levey hared off into the desert and corralled the unfortunate Parker.

When the job was over Levey had to search Los Angeles to find Parker and give him his ticket for the flight back to New York. He was unable to find him and, whilst the rest of the band left, Parker subsequently set fire to his hotel and was incarcerated in the Camarillo mental hospital.

”It was a year before we saw him again in New York,” said Levey.

Levey returned to Philadelphia in 1951 where he led a quartet of future stars made up from tenorist Richie Kamuca, pianist Red Garland and bassist Nelson Boyd. They played on their own and accompanied any of the star singers that visited the city. Stan Kenton was impressed by the quartet when his band played there in 1952 and when he left he took Levey and Kamuca with him.

In many ways the drummer is the most important member of a big band. He must learn the band's music and method and be able to move the whole band in the direction he wants. Stan Kenton used Levey to replace a weaker drummer and, with Zoot Sims, Lee Konitz and other stars in his ranks brought together what was arguably the finest band he ever had. It toured Europe in 1953 and boatloads of its British fans sailed to Dublin (the band was not allowed to play in Britain) for two inspired and historic concerts. One of the band’s appearances in Paris survived and Levey can be heard at his finest, driving the band to perfection.

Kenton subsequently broke the band up in 1954 after an appearance at the Shrine in Los Angeles. About to leave the city, Levey was called over the airport address system. The call was from Max Roach who was playing at the Lighthouse, a long-established Los Angeles jazz club. Roach was under contract but wanted to leave to form what became the classic quintet with trumpeter Clifford Brown. But the management wouldn’t let him break his contract unless he could find a drummer of similar calibre to replace him. Levey fitted the bill and joined the Lighthouse All Stars for the next five years.

He played at the club all night and worked in the studios during the day.

”Norman Granz used to book a studio for a week,” Levey told me during a broadcast, “and he’d sit me, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis and Ray Brown in there as the rhythm section. The he’d parade his soloists through -- Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Sonny Stitt, Stan Getz -- and we’d record albums with them. By the end of the week you lost track of who you were accompanying.”

Levey’s last jobs in music were working on the film “Rosemary’s Baby”, which he hated, and composing and conducting the music for five one hour Disney documentaries.

He had been working part time as a photographer since the end of the Fifties, his work published in Harper's Bazaar and other magazines. He now exploited his hobby and became a successful commercial and industrial photographer, taking many pictures that became the covers for albums by the musicians he had formerly played with.

”I cut out the drumming and I don’t miss it at all. I never played again. The music business changed and I went on to other things.”

Stan Levey, drummer, photographer: born Philadelphia 5 April 1926; married Angel Neylan 1951, three sons; died Los Angeles 19 April 2005.

Stan Levey, 79; Drummer Influenced 'Cool School' of Modern Jazz

By Dennis McLellan, Times Staff Writer

From: the Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2005

Stan Levey, an influential modern jazz drummer who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and other musical giants, has died. He was 79.

Levey, who underwent surgery in February for cancer of the jaw, died on April 19th at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, said his wife, Angela.

A self-taught drummer, Levey was only 16 when he first played with Gillespie in a hometown Philadelphia club in 1942. Levey later moved to New York City, where, on Gillespie's recommendation, he joined bassist Oscar Pettiford's group.

After working with Charlie Parker's band, Levey became part of what The Times' late jazz critic Leonard Feather called "the first genuine all-be-bop group to play on 52nd Street, the famed block in midtown Manhattan where clubs lined both sides of the street." The group included Gillespie, Parker, pianist Al Haig and bassist Curly Russell.

Levey also had big-band stints with, among others, Woody Herman and Benny Goodman. He rose to national jazz fame during his two years with the Stan Kenton orchestra.

After leaving Kenton in 1954, Levey settled in Los Angeles and began a steady, five-year gig playing with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, where Levey became a major influence in what was called "West Coast jazz" or the "cool school" of modern jazz.

"He was everything a good drummer should be," jazz critic and historian Ira Gitler told The Times on Thursday. "His technique and his feel for the drums were used in the service of whatever group he was playing with, from Stan Kenton's large orchestra to piano trios."

As a drummer, Gitler said, Levey "began to come into his own at the time Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker were changing American music. That's when he played on 52nd Street, so he was in on the beginning of the great jazz movement."

Vibist Terry Gibbs, who hired Levey in 1959 to play drums with his jazz quintet at the Seville, a club on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, told The Times: "Anybody who was there at the beginning and played with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie has to be that good.

"If I had to name three of my favorite drummers to play with, Stan Levey was one of them. He was an accompanist: He sat back there and gave you that good time to where you can go anywhere you want to go rhythmically and musically."

"Stan Levey: The Original Original," a DVD in which Levey discusses his life in jazz and recounts stories of the greats he worked with during his 30-year career, was released in February. The documentary includes rare film clips of Parker, Miles Davis and other musicians, as well as comments about Levey from Quincy Jones, Lalo Schifrin, Charlie Watts and others.

Said Gitler, who reviewed the DVD for the upcoming June issue of Down Beat magazine: "The main point I made in there is that a lot of people, especially the last few generations, aren't aware of his stature as a drummer, and this DVD will show his amazing career."

Born in 1926, Levy was the son of a car dealer and fight promoter. Levey recalled in a 1989 Times interview: "I sort of grew up in the gyms, skipping rope with my buddies, the boxers." At one point, he boxed professionally.

"Every ethnic group had its own favorites, and I did pretty well as a white Jewish heavyweight," he said. "Then I got hurt, and it was time to quit."

While growing up, Levey made rhythms with spoons and forks before teaching himself to play the drums. One night, he dropped in at a local club where Gillespie was playing and asked to sit in.

"At first, Dizzy thought it was a joke, but he liked me, and his drummer had just quit, so I got the job — at $18 a week," recalled Levey, who dropped out of high school and spent his days cleaning cars on his father's car lot and his nights at the club.

"After Dizzy left," he said, "I stayed on there until he encouraged me to come to New York."

As a studio musician, Levey performed on more than 2,000 recordings with singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee. He also played on the sound tracks of more than 300 movies and more than 3,000 TV show episodes.

During his time performing at the Lighthouse in the 1950s, Levey expanded his hobby of photography into professional work, shooting numerous album covers.

Retiring from the music business in 1973, he turned to photography full time, working for major ad agencies and shooting everything from fashion to industrial photos.

In addition to his wife of 53 years, he is survived by his three sons, Dr. Chris Levey of Easton, Md., Dr. David Levey of San Antonio and Robert Levey of Aspen, Colo.; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

See: http://www.stanlevey.com/

A memorial service was held at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive.

A report on the memorial for Stan Levey

STEVEN D. HARRIS

in PASADENA, CA

Saturday, April 23, 2005 @ 2:30 pm: A crowd of about 125 were in attendance for the 75-minute service at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills. Writers and musical celebs paying their respects included Howard Rumsey, Gene Norman, Howard Lucraft and Charlie Shoemake. All three of Levey's sons spoke fondly about the man. His wife of 53 years, Angela, was silently present.

There were 10 speakers on hand to reminisce, including guitarist Dennis Budimir and bassist Max Bennett who both worked with Levey when they backed Peggy Lee together in the early 60s. Lee's daughter was present and most delighted to hear stories of when Levey worked with her mother. She said that Peggy dubbed Stan "The Train" because his beat was always solid and right there.

-- The rabbi expressed: "The last note is complete in the composition of Stan. Today we let go of Stan's hand, but God will never let go."

-- Levey's daughter-in-law told of the time recently when Stan last gave his grandson drums lessons at the family home in September, 2004.

-- Levey's eldest son described his father as the strong, quite and humble type who would teach by example. Ironic, since Stan had little parental guidance or formal education himself, and was self-taught at almost everything in life.

-- Arthur Prince, producer of the 2-hour documentary "Stan Levey: The Original Original" told how he came to title the new DVD release. It was simply what Dizzy Gillespie used to call Levey (they worked together, with Bird, to make the first bebop records in 1945.) Prince also shared the story of when Stan, then living with Bird, was awakened in their hotel room in the middle of the night. Bird got up out of a sound sleep, grabbed his ax and composed "Confirmation" and promptly went back to sleep!

-- One speaker (a long-time friend) said that Levey loved his deserts. Through the years, he'd often go to restaurants with friends and con the waitress into believing that it was someone's birthday at his table, and end up with the cake. The same speaker told how very few people knew that in 1987, Stan (with cancer) was given only 6 months to live. But Levey proved his doctor wrong, telling him: "No Way!" He was determined to stick around for years and he did. Once a prize fighter in his youth, the "fighter" instinct never left him.

--On that subject, it was Levey's father, a fight promoter, who encouraged his son to start training for the ring. Levey won 35 out of 36 heavyweight bouts, but confirmed to friends that many of them were "fixed." Many times, Levey was told to take a punch and drop, before coming back to wipe his opponent out. Levey would joke to friends, "I was lying on the canvas so many times that I sold advertising on my heels!"

-- The close of the service was a highlight. Singer Bill Henderson and pianist Mike Melvoin were schedule to perform together, until Melvoin had to report, "The phantom piano isn't here." Henderson still obliged by singing a cappella. It was a tasty, 90-second treatment of the standard "I Thought About You." After a rousing response from the audience, Henderson turned to a large photo of Levey on display and saluted the late drummer.

-- Bassist Glen Roberts (who subbed for Don Bagley with Kenton in 1953) told me after the service: "Levey was like a big brother to me. He really encouraged me on the Kenton band and made me feel secure, musically."

Personal reflections: I was fortunate to do a radio interview with Levey in March, 1989. I asked him if he had ever played "Artistry in Percussion" with the Kenton band. He insisted "Never," since he felt that the song rightfully belonged to Shelly Manne.

I also recall that some overseas promoters were trying to talk Levey out of retirement to play drums on a jazz tour. Levey told me he was considering it at the time, but only under the condition that it was for the right money. The deal subsequently fell through.

Of the '53 European tour, Levey recalled that the Kenton band was making so much money that they didn't have time to count it, so every night they would throw large bills into bags on the band bus.

Chuck Carter: An Overdue Obituary

By JulieCarter

CHARLES DEXTER "CHUCK" CARTER [1931-2003] was a saxophone soloist with the Stan Kenton Orchestra ['71-'73] and on brief stints thereafter, performing in 46 states and several European countries. His renditions of Rhapsody in Blue among others are preserved in collections of Kenton classics.

Chuck was born in Benton, IL. His musical talent emerged at age 5 as he began piano with the encouragement and tutelage of his mother. Clarinet lessons began at age 7 and led to 1st Place awards in every local/State contest he entered during High School. Majoring in music (48-'51) at IL. Wesleyan Univ., Bloomington, IL., was interrupted by 3 years in the U.S. Air Force Band, Randolph Field, TX., resumed in '54 at the Univ. of Illinois, Champaign. He also earned a BSEE degree in '60 and was on the prestigous President's List at IN. Institute of Technology, Ft. Wayne, IN.

Through those years, he was playing in local combos and bands, honing his talent and making lifelong friends.

Eventually making his home in the Indianapolis area, he worked as an Engineer or Draftsman but never missed an opportunity to play music, which by then included all the reed instruments. A list of noted bands and vocalists with whom he performed fills a page and includes Mancini, Elgart, Herman, Dorsey, Lombardo, Greco and J. Mathis, T. Bennett, H. Belefonte, N. Wilson, D. Reese, A. Williams, T. Jones, P. Lee, R. Clooney.

As Co-leader, Chuck formed a Big Band with Kenton drummer John Von Ohlen in '74. Stanley was so impresssed he offerred to include this band on his Creative World label. Fate intervened as Von Ohlen chose a different path and Chuck admitted his inability to handle the business side of music. Nevertheless, the band continued on into the 80's, adding Steve Allee as a Co-leader and producing one CD. The CD "Downtown Blues" includes one of Chuck's vocal renditions, "Joint's Jumpin" and can be purchased through Amazon.com.

Following Kenton's example, Chuck enthusiastically participated in clinics for younger generations in Summer Camps, local schools & colleges, and with Big Band leaders, Mike Vax and Jim Widner. For six years he selected the saxophone players from High Schools for the IN. All State Jazz Band.

Always listening for new "notes", Chuck associated himself with musicians representing all ages and styles. He played Dixieland, Blues, Ballads as well as in churches but his creative juice flowed in JAZZ. Playing sounds of Coltrane, Be-bop and ballads and occasionally singing and telling jokes, during the '80's & '90's he organized a variety of combos to play in local Jazz Clubs, i.e., BariBand composed of 2 saxes, 2 drums, 2 basses. The Carter/Markiewicz Quartet had a long run and produced one CD "Evolution, Step I". He was the "ol' man" in these ventures and affectionately called the others his "young stallions". All attested to learning from each other.

During these later years, he toured with other Kenton alumni in the Big Bands of Mike Vax and Jim Widner, always returning refreshed by the music and camaraderie. Chuck was a 50 year member of Local 3, Indianapolis Musicians Union. In 1998 the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation presented him with their Hall of Fame Award "for excellence in your lifelong commitment to the highest standards of jazz performance and education".

In '96, he astonished his Cardioligists by surviving a seriously damaged heart and 5 by-pass surgery. Proper diet, exercise and a strong will to play music kept him well for seven years. A lifelong wish wasfulfilled two nights prior to death when he attended an Ornette Coleman concert in Chicago. His prayers were granted when he succumbed quickly, without suffering and with never laying down his horns. Chuck's funeral & burial were on his beloved ancestral grounds, now Pleasant Hill Church cemetery, in Thompsonville, IL. with his brother, The Rev. Bill A. Carter, officiating and with full Military Honors.

One month after his burial, a memorial celebration was held in Indy at his favorite club "Jazz Kitchen". With his portrait in view, many musicians played to honor him and many told "Chuck stories". Over 200 family and friends from miles away attended. Some said they all knew each other but only Chuck could manage getting them all together. Simultaneously, a Kenton Celebration was happening in California where Mike Vax's band honored Chuck with words and music.

At his request, numerous memorial contributions were made to MORGY CRAIG JAZZ SCHOLARSHIP FUND, Ball State Univ., Muncie, IN. The late saxophonist, Morgy Craig, was a special friend as is the long time Dir. of the Jazz Dept., Larry McWilliams.

During the following year musicial tributes continued in various venues; leaders "counting off" Chuck style, some wearing Chuck's ties and "Chuck stories" & jokes will ever be recalled.

Through the years Chuck was blessed with a huge family, extended families and myraid friends far and wide. As Jim Widner wrote "... to say he had not one enemy is an understatement".

NOTES FROM WIFE, JULIE:

Myraid testimonies from far and wide portrayed a man, humble, with gentle manner, profound faith, sense of humor and heart full of unconditional love for all. I was touched by how many, especially men, could verbalize "I loved him". I think he knew and he loved them too. How could I not feel blessed to have been his wife !

Chuck's daughter said her Daddy was not always at home but her experiences on Kenton's bus and in her daddy's audiences more than compensated. "He was never farther away from me than a telephone".

Chuck was very sentimental about family. As we dug into our ancestries, we located in a Kentucky cornfield the gravesite of his GR.GR.GR. Grandfather, an American Revolution patriot. After cutting through vines and briars and cleaning out the area, a large military marker was laid in concrete and a clarinet was heard playing Amazing Grace and My Old Kentucky Home.

When his last tour with Widner was over, Chuck left his large suitcase on the bus in St. Louis; Jim retrieved and shipped it to Indy. Concerned that Chuck was beginning to be a bother, I questioned Jim. His reply was immediate and firm. "Chuck would never be a bother. When he gets on the bus everyone gets bright. He sets a happy tone on the entire tour."

Chuck had an uncanny ability to laugh at himself... a clown at heart. He said "I fumbled my way through life and found it better to laugh at myself than to cry". Another friend wrote envisioning heaven: "By golly I know that if ol' Charles has found his keys, glasses, bow tie, etc., he's got the 'Joint Jumpin' with music". One friend wrote: "Love was his mission. He fulfilled it. He was LOVE MAN". I would add only that "music" was his "instrument".

I think the myraid written testimonies received can be summed up in excerpts of a letter from Lou Kratzer:

"Musically, Chuck is respected and admired by us all but more importantly, as a comrade and truly genuine person, he is revered. He was a magnet for fellowship. He did it all. He accomplished so much that the rest of us looked to him for a sort of spiritual leadership. Never bitter, aware of injustices but not overly critical, always positive... he refused to be dragged down. Everyone was his friend". "Conversations on gigs gravitate to 'Chuck stories', then the hard realization that our loss is great. But it is difficult to feel sorry for ones' self when the loss of a friend brings to mind so many good memories".

It has been such a consololation to his family to know that the love and loss we felt was shared by so many.

TONY COX: AN APPRECIATION

Ed Chaplin (“use it as it is, with no changes or 'touch up'”)(Editor's Note: As received from the contributor.")

"Tony Cox, who died last year aged 71, was a family man, and formerly a BBC producer.

Tony was a most discerning person, with a deep appreciation of quality in music and the arts. He was a fount of knowledge in those subjects, and his ability to communicate was shown in his articulate liner notes that accompanied the music on the albums he produced.

Tony had researched Kenton’s life and recordings, with a particular interest in his earlier years. Tony compiled several Kenton, Christy, and O'Day albums for release on the Jasmine and Hep labels.

He told Ed Chaplin of his first meeting with Stan Kenton. This was in March 1956 at London’s Royal Albert Hall when Kenton made his first tour of England. At the end of the concert, Tony went backstage and found Stan relaxing. Apologising for interrupting, Tony asked Stan please to sign his programme; Stan gladly did so, asking Tony his name. By now, several others had tracked down Stan backstage and were keen to speak to Stan. So Tony could only have a few moments.....

'Stan, thank you, that was a marvellous concert.'

'Glad you liked it, have you followed my music for long, Tony?'

'Yes I have. [Pause.] Dare I say it, my favourite music of yours is that in the Innovations library.'

'I’m very interested you say that, Tony’; (nodding and looking strongly at Tony) ‘so do I’. [shake hands] ‘Good luck, Tony, and Thanks.'

In 1963 when Stan next came to Britain, Tony was working abroad and unable to catch any concert in Britain by Stan and his orchestra (this was, ‘the mellophonium band’).

Stan's next visit to Britain was not till 1972. By then, Tony had returned to the UK. He attended Stan’s first concert in London, and afterwards went backstage to find him and ask for his autograph. On seeing Stan, Tony went up to him, but before Tony could say a word, Stan looked straight at him and said, 'Hello Tony".

Tony chose a Kenton recording of ‘Interlude’ to be played as closing music at his own funeral, which was attended by Michael Sparke, Ed Chaplin, and Tony’s family and many friends in April 2004.

BOOKS AND MUSIC

STAN KENTON: THE STUDIO SESSIONS: A Discography

By Michael Sparke and Pete Venudor

In 1994, Balboa Books released Kenton on Capitol and Creative World A Discography by Michael Sparke and Pete Venudor. Kenton buffs and jazz/big band experts seemed to like it.

Tony Agostinelli, Editor of THE NETWORK, writes: "For every Kenton fan, scholar, alumnus, and jazz researcher, this work is an essential document for every public or private library. I cannot get by without my copy!"

The Studio Sessions is available direct from the publisher. Price: $32.95 (plus $4.50 S&H). You can also order by:

• Check, money order or Visa/Mastercard to Balboa Books, P.O. Box 493, Lake Geneva, WI 53147.
• Order online by clicking the "Add To Shopping Cart" button above.
• Fax your Visa/Mastercard order to (262) 249-0299
• Phone your Visa/Mastercard order toll-free to 1-800-420-0579

STEVE HARRIS OFFERINGS

Attn: Kenton fans! Three related items now available:

THE KENTON KRONICLES, a 405-page biography, now available in its second printing. Soft cover, 8= x 11 with 48 glossy photo pages. 285 unpublished b/w photos. Full chronologicaI nterviews from over 125 alumni, relatives and associates. Individual chapters on each of Kenton's various bands. Programs for all 11 Neophonic concerts, 1965-68. Historic reviews and entertainment ads. A 15-page video-filmography covering over 125 appearances of Stan in films, TV and private videos. Price: $49.95 plus $5 shipping ( $20 overseas.)

THE 2005 KENTON KALENDAR contains over 400 historical dates, trivia and alumni background. It features over 20 rare action photos (1940s thru the 70s), nearly all of which are published for the first time. The fact-filled calendar offers an alphabetical, easy reference section called the "Encyclopedia of Kentonia" which covers the instrument, tenure, birth date and location of over 300 musicians, singers and arrangers. 250 Limited Edition copies individually numbered, 8= x 11 in size on glossy paper with quality high-resolution photos. Price: $19.95 plus $2 shipping ($3 Canadian, $5 overseas) 

PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED KENTON CDs: Three 2004 issues of all rare material. These historic sounds stem from club and dance dates, radio broadcasts, concert and TV appearances, private parties and rehearsals. 60 different titles in all averaging over 70 minutes in length. Each CD offers a detailed list of composers, arrangers, soloists, date/location of each track. Price: $15.95 plus $2 shipping ($3 Canadian, $5 overseas) Description as follows:

• STAN'S SINGERS: The most complete collection of Kenton vocalists (21) on one CD, from Stan's first singer (Kay Gregory, 1941) to his last (Jean Turner, 1963). Plus Red Dorris / Dolly Mitchell / Anita O'Day / Gene Howard / June Christy / John Conte / Ray Wetzel & Eddie Bert / Jay Johnson / Jerri Winters / Kay Brown / Helen Carr / Chris Connor / Frank Rosolino / Jan Tober / Kent Larsen / Ann Richards / Sue Raney / Ernie Bernhardt. Liner notes by Milt Bernhart, penned just one month before his passing.
• KENTON FOR COLLECTORS: 19 tracks of the most obscure titles and charts known to exist from 1947-77. Pete's Riff, Lover Man, There's No You, Solo For Alto, Body & Soul, Sunset Tower, This is an Orchestra! ('59 TV version), Where Did You Go, Our Love is Here To Stay, Little Old Lady, Hello Dolly, April Fool (extended version), We've Only Just Begun, You Deserve A Break Today (McDonald's theme), German National Anthem, Samana, Haps 69, The Lord's Prayer and Writer's Cramp.
• RADIO RARITIES: Historic broadcast material from 1941-70. Many comical moments featured in Stan's spontaneous introductions. Theme, Taboo #1, More Than You Know, Artistry Jumps, Come Back To Sorrento, They Didn't Believe Me, Laura (gag vocal: Milt Bernhart), Taboo #2, All the Things You Are, Harlem Nocturne, Stella By Starlight, Fortune of Fools, What's New?, Don't Take Your Love From Me, Baubles; Bangles & Beads, Street of Dreams, Mellophobia, Intermission Riff and Theme.

Contact Steven D. Harris at sdhjazz@earthlink.net for more details or visit http://www.stan-kenton.com/. Make check or money order payable to Dynaflow Publications, 148 N. Catalina Ave. Suite 4, Pasadena, CA 91106

STAN KENTON: ARTISTRY IN RHYTHM

By Dr. William Lee

Dr. William Lee has re-issued Stan Kenton: Artistry in Rhythm. It has been published in soft-cover with editing by Audree Coke and foreword by Mort Sahl. It is available again. So if you have been looking for a copy, send check or money order in the amount of $19.95 plus $3.00 plus postage and handling to: IAJE, PO Box 724, Manhattan, KS 66502-0724.

THE MUSIC OF JOHNNY RICHARDS...

Arranged for stage bands, is available. 12 arrangements from Private Library, Inc. publications, owned by Johnny and Eddie Safranski are now available in their original formats for schools (4 trumpets, 4 trombones, 4 rhythm, and sometimes a conductor's score). The set of 12 includes: La Suerte de los Tontos, Dimples, Three Cornered Cat, To a Sleeping Beauty, Run Wild, Walk Softly, Recuerdos, the Moon Stood Still, El Congo Valiente, Sunday's Child, Burrito Borracho, and Stage Twelve. Richards and Safranski had intended these for use by colleges, universities and high schools. They are being made available now. For your set, please send a check or money order in the amount of $90 made out to: Private Library, Inc., Anthony J. Agostinelli, 62 Valley Lane, Woodland Valley, Portsmouth, RI 02871-2731, The $90 covers cost of shipping and handling, and the remainder goes for the operations of THE NETWORK. [With permission of Erica Tonner (Safranski), Eddie’s daughter, acting on behalf of her father's estate who has ownership of the printed copies of Private Library, Inc.]

STAN KENTON: THE EARLY YEARS

By Ed ‘Gabe’ Gabel

In Stan Kenton: The Early Years, Gabel recalls the endless road trips back and forth across the country, harrowing flights to military bases when the Kenton orchestra was the band on Bob Hope's radio show, being stranded by a flood in Nebraska and trying to do a concert in sub-zero temperatures. The book is filled with stories of good times, bad times, exciting times, monotonous times as Stan fought to keep a band together while musicians were being drafted almost every week. Price: $19.95 (plus $4.50 S&H) you also can order by: Check, money order or Visa/Mastercard to Balboa Books, P.O. Box 493, Lake Geneva, WI 53147. Fax your Visa/Mastercard order to (262) 249-0299. Phone your Visa/Mastercard order toll-free to 1-800-420-0579 M-F, 9am-7pm EST. [Only in the Balboa Books catalogue until 12/31/04.]

JOHNNY RICHARDS: The Definitive Bio-Discography

By Jack Hartley and Jurgen Wvlfer

Here is the first complete study of one of the music world's most fascinating composers/arrangers/musicians. In addition to his own orchestra, Johnny Richards not only wrote and arranged for Stan Kenton, (including such famous albums as Cuban Fire!, Adventures in Time and West Side Story), he also penned for Boyd Raeburn, Charley Barnet, Bing Crosby, Harry James, Dizzy Gillespie and many others - plus scores for such movies as “The Light That Failed,” “Dark Command,” “Gulliver's Travels” and “Northwest Mounted Police.” In addition, 16 Hopalong Cassidy westerns!

STAN KENTON: THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC

By Lillian Arganian

The book is available from Artistry Press, P.O. Box 1571, East Lansing, Michigan, 48823. Price: $22.50.

STRAIGHT AHEAD: THE STORY OF STAN KENTON

By Carol Easton

The biography that Stan and many alumni did not like is out of print. It was originally published by Morrow Press in 1973, and reprinted by Da Capo press in 1981.

MONOGRAPHS WRITTEN by Anthony J. Agostinelli.

Send your request for: “Stan Kenton: The Many Musical Moods of His Orchestras,” to: Tony Agostinelli, 62 Valley Lane, Woodland Valley, Portsmouth, RI 02871-2731, USA. Cost has been set at $18.00 for handling and first class postage in the USA. . For the UK, Europe and other international locations an International Postal Money Order in the amount of 10 pounds sterling will cover the costs (postage included); allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. For other parts of the world, use the USA rate as the basis for your computation. International postal money orders are easiest to change into USA currency. Also available are Agostinelli’s “Some Composer/ Arrangers I Have Known” (all Kenton alumni) and “Eddie Safranski: A Retrospective” cost has been set at $18.00 for handling and first class postage in the USA. International rates as above. Contact Agostinelli at: ajagostinelli@cox.net

Epilogue: Thanks also are due to members of my family et al for their help in putting out THE NETWORK over the years: Barbara; Maria, Denis, Niko; Kate, Frank, Francesca, Cecilia; Mark, Debra, Mason, Will; Matt, Carmen; Fiona, Too, panting at my feet: and mythical friend, Dr. Ezekial Lipschitz!

[The Network XXIX put to bed: May 1, 2005 (12:00 midnight) -- Still Spring!] [Typographical and factual errors, and of course, misspellings are entirely the Editor's fault!]