With this release, volume one in a series,
Naxos Jazz
gets its hands on some of the earliest recordings of the
Stan Kenton
band, an ear-opening collection of
MacGregor
radio transcriptions made around the time that he was recording for
Decca
. These, mind you, date well before the series of path-breaking
Capitol
recordings that made the band famous -- and they show the
Kenton
sound already partially in place, the trademark staccato sax section punctuating the line, the brasses just starting to blast. Even at this point, you cannot mistake this band for anyone's else's, even in the more commercially motivated tunes. Interestingly, only a handful of the nine
titles appear here, leaving room for a lot of material that went undocumented by the major labels. There are also a few previews of
-penned recordings to come: the
theme
"Artistry in Rhythm"
(which he pilfered from
Ravel
's
"Daphnis and Chloe"
), the jumping
"Harlem Folk Dance,"
and the sublime
"Opus in Pastels"
(here, it's faster and more staccato in phrasing than the great 1946
recording).
Chico Alvarez
's trumpet can be heard in several solo spots, and
Howard Rumsey
's scatted loosey-goosey bass solo feature,
"A Setting in Motion"
(which
recorded under the title
"Concerto for Doghouse"
), is a kick. Some of the
MacGregors
had appeared on LP as early as 1953, yet this systematic release should easily supersede all earlier efforts, with clean, listenable transfers but no personnel listings. ~ Richard S. Ginell