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Stan kenton's latin jazz connections
Latin Beat Magazine, May, 1999 by Max Salazar
PAUL LOPEZ, trumpeter of Mexican descent, born December 9, 1923, in Los Angeles. "Stan was a wonderful warm person. During the '40s it was unusual for a popular American Pop music bandleader to hire Mexican musicians...not for Kenton...in 1947 he hired me as a sub for two days at La Casa Mañana in Culver City. After this I headed for Chicago. The next time I saw Stan in New York City in 1949 while I was playing with the Noro Morales Orchestra at the China Doll. Stan was in the audience, he wanted to hear Noro play. When he spotted me he embraced me as though I was a relative he had not seen in some time. Kenton was a beautiful human being." Stan Kenton recorded 22 Latinized jazz recordings and after 1950 he utilized many Latin musicians for club, recording and concert dates.
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He was born Stanley Newcomb Kenton in Wichita, Kansas, on December 5, 1911 to Stella and Floyd Kenton. In 1917, the Kenton's settled in Los Angeles. His piano lessons began at age 10.
"From the time I was 14, I was all about music, nothing else entered my mind."
In 1927, he wrote Drigus Serenade his first composition. In August, 1940, the 14-man Stan Kenton Orchestra carne into being. Four months later, four test pressings were recorded at the Los Angeles Music City record shop. In 1942, three men, singer-songwriter Johnny Mercer, songwriter G.B. "Buddy" De Silvia, and Glenn Wallichs, proprietor of a large music store at Sunset and Vine, Los Angeles, pooled their resources and invested $17,000 in a venture which was registered as "Liberty Records." Four months later, the company's name was changed to Capitol Records (in 1953 EMI Electrical and Mechanical Industries of Great Britain purchased a controlling share of Capitol Records for 8 million dollars). During the mid-40s, when it was taboo to hire black musicians, Kenton ignored the unwritten rule and hired trumpeter Karl George, the first African American to gig with the Kenton Orchestra.
In November, 1943, Kenton signed a contract to record for Capitol Records. One month later, while the Kenton Orchestra appeared at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco, a soldier introduced himself as Private First Class Pete Rugalo and left Kenton his chart arrangement of an original tune. Kenton was impressed and hired Rugalo upon his discharge. In February, 1944, a sixteen year-old saxophonist named Stan Getz joined the orchestra. In April, 1945, vocalist Anita O'Day left the band and was replaced by a 17 year-old named Shirley Luster who later on became June Christy.
On May 4, 1945, Kenton's recording of Tampico became his first million selling record. On January 19, 1946, at a Hollywood recording session, Intermisson Riff was recorded. With the passing of time, Intermisson Riff has become an American jazz treasure like Benny Goodman's Sing Sing Sing. Years later, his Latinized version of Intermission Riff, which included a conga drummer, became one of his best selling recordings.
1946 was a great year for the 6'2" bandleader. Metronome magazine's readers voted his orchestra the best of the year, June Christy vocalist of the year. Her rendition of the lush Willow Weep For Me sold thousands. In the movie Road To Bali, which featured Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, Kenton's Artistry In Percussion was one of the movie's soundtracks.
