“Concerto to End All Concertos”

Composed and arranged by Stan Kenton.

Recorded by Stan Kenton and His Orchestra on July 26, 1946 for Capitol in Los Angeles.

Stanley N. Kenton, piano, directing: Marion “Buddy” Childers, first trumpet; Ray Wetzel, John Anderson, Ken Hanna and Alfred “Chico” Alvarez, trumpets; Kai Winding, Harry Forbes, Miff Sines (Dominic Sinischelcci), tenor trombones; Bartolomeo (Bart) Varsalona, bass trombone; Al Anthony and Henry “Boots” Mussulli, alto saxophones; Vido Musso and Bob Cooper, tenor saxophones; Bob “Jaggers” Gioga, baritone saxophone; Bob Ahern, guitar; Eddie Safranski, bass; Sheldon “Shelly” Manne, drums.

The story:

Guitarist Bob Ahern is not someone who became a big musical star during the swing era or ever. Nevertheless, he was a solid professional, and as such, was well qualified to hold down the guitar chair in Stan Kenton’s band from March of 1943 until April of 1947, a period when the Kenton band went from a struggling upstart to one of the most successful bands in America. Here are some of his recollections about his time with Kenton, combined with other information. Together, they give us a sense of what was going on in Kenton world at that time:

“I joined Stan’s band at the Tune Town Ballroom in St. Louis, Missouri in March, 1943, and the Second World War was being felt all around us. In May, we opened at the College Inn of Hotel Sherman in Chicago for (several weeks).” By July, the Kenton band was in Hollywood, working on the Universal film short entitled Radio Melodies. On September 8, 1943, they were playing at Jantzen Beach Ballroom in Portland, Oregon, appearing via remote broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio program called One Night Stand. These AFRS performances were an important part of helping the morale of not only U.S. military personnel, but also of people on the homefront. The Kenton band played many of them during World War II. “…(W)e had to intersperse these dates with our regular contractual obligations, and so it kept us really hopping. These entertainment jaunts covered a great area – from California across many states to Miami Beach, Florida, and as far north as Canada, through upper Quebec in heavy snow. It was extremely tiring to go miles out of the way to perform these benefits, but we understood that the troops themselves were sacrificing plenty, and we wanted to help morale all we could.” (1) (Above right: guitarist Bob Ahern chords while drummer Shelly Manne gets hot.)

The Kenton band also began appearing weekly on Bob Hope’s very popular NBC radio show in 1943, after Skinnay Ennis, Hope’s long-time bandleader, had entered military service. This association, which paid well and provided Kenton with immense public promotion, nevertheless had some drawbacks. Unlike Glenn Miller’s radio show, which was a perfect showcase for the music of his band, Kenton’s role on the Bob Hope show was basically to lead his band as a back-up for Hope and his guests. Spots for the Kenton band to shine were rare. Also, the scripted lines Kenton often had to speak, were written to set-up comedic retorts from Hope. Kenton did not particularly enjoy being a straight-man for Bob Hope. But with the wartime rationing of gasoline and rubber, and other logistical challenges to deal with, Kenton and his band remained in Los Angeles for long spells, and continued for some time with the Hope show. (Above left: Bob Hope and Stan Kenton in 1944. Despite Kenton’s unease appearing on Hope’s radio show, his association with Hope greatly enhanced his name recognition nationwide with fans of his music.)

Bob Ahern also remembered a series of events that caused some major personnel changes in the Kenton band while he was a member: “We opened on Independence Day 1945 at the Paramount Theater in New York City. Two hours before the first show, Bob Varney, our drummer, was rushed to the hospital with acute appendicitis. At about the same time, bassist Max Wayne had to leave because of a heart ailment, and I had to report for an Army physical exam in St. Louis. …At the last minute, Ray Toland from Harry James’s band covered the drum chair temporarily. Eddie Safranski, from Hal McIntyre’s band, filled-in on bass. I failed the Army eye exam, but was gone for several days. No one replaced me while I was gone.” (2) Within a short time, Safranski joined the Kenton band full-time, as did drummer Shelley Manne. Both would contribute greatly to Kenton’s music. Necessity once again was the mother of invention. (Above right: bassist Eddie Safranski and Kenton. Safranski proved to be a stalwart performer in the Kenton band.)

Here is a post script from Mr. Ahern: “…(At) the Paramount, we started off with seven (!!) stage shows a day. Near the end of our six-week(!!) run, we were down to only five shows per day.” (3) How Kenton and his band members did not go insane while they worked their way through that engagement is not known.

I must also mention one of the most colorful musicians in the Kenton band then, tenor saxophonist Vido Musso. Vido and Kenton went back a long way, to the early 1930s, when they played together in a succession of southern California bands. A natural musician who had great command of his tenor saxophone, and who intuitively fit into whatever musical situation he found himself in, Musso was an exciting jazz soloist. He was hired in the summer of 1936 by Benny Goodman because of his ability to stir audiences with his exuberant jazz solos. But in order to stay with Goodman, Benny insisted that Vido let Arthur Rollini, one of the most finished musicians in the Goodman band, teach him how to read music. Vido proved to be an apt pupil, though he often convulsed Rollini and everyone else in the Goodman band with his unique use and misuse of the English language. A favorite Vidoism that was recalled by many musicians fell from his lips while he was riding on the Goodman band bus. In looking out the window as the bus passed a sheep farm, Vido said to no one in particular: “Geez, look at dat cotton on them sheeps.”

Paradoxically, Vido, and his long-suffering but dedicated wife Rose, were a remarkably successful couple. Vido made the money, and after he initially made his reputation with Goodman he was well-paid, and Rose invested it in Los Angeles and Las Vegas real estate. By the time Musso joined the Stan Kenton band in late 1945, he was in comfortable financial circumstances, though he never talked about money with his Kenton colleagues. They, being young hipsters for the most part, were spending the money Kenton paid them as fast as they could. They thought Vido, though his playing still stirred audiences, was just an old-time and old-fashioned road musician. How wrong they were. By the 1950s, Vido was a wealthy man.

Vido bought one of the first post-war Cadillacs after he joined Kenton. It was black and it was big. His frequent passengers when the band toured were Boots Mussulli, Ray Wetzel, Buddy Childers and Chico Alvarez, a motley crew to be sure. Childers recalled: “Mussulli rode in front. Smoke from the ever-present cigarette dangling from his lips reduced his eyes to slits. To Chico ‘…he looked like a little gangster, and Vido, driving like the head of the Mafia. And Ray Wetzel looked like Sydney Greenstreet!’ They all had heavy beards, and just the sight of them could clear the streets of some little towns.” (4)

Like Benny Goodman, Vido found it difficult to remember the names of people. Benny’s way of dealing with that was to call everyone, even women, “Pops.” Vido called everyone “Jack.” Once after a Kenton gig in Iowa, Vido was piloting his Cadillac along a rural highway. It was raining. In the car were the usual riders. As a car traveling in the opposite direction passed, a loud thwack was heard. Buddy Childers later recalled what then happened: “Vido, thinking he’d been hit turned the car around, caught up with the offender, and stopped him. The two drivers got out. ‘Hey Jack,’ said Vido not unfriendly, ‘you hit my car!’ As he knelt by his fender, lighting matches, searching for the non-existent mark, the other driver hauled off and with the full force of his two-hundred plus pounds, punched Vido…” Vido stood up and said, ‘Wait a minute, Jack. I want to show you something. You hit my car.’ Then he said, ‘You hit me….’ and POW, the guy’s feet left the ground. We thought that Vido was going to kill him.” Vido himself completed this story: “Then another car drives up, and six guys get out. They look like football players. They say, ‘Hey, that guy’s our buddy!’ And, wham, I never saw so many fists flying against me. So I say, ‘Boots, get the gun! Boots says… ‘Where?’ Then the cops came. We were told never to come back to Iowa.”(5)

The music:

The title “Concerto to End All Concertos” was, according to Stan Kenton, its composer, “comical,” but there is nothing funny about the music itself. This music reflects Kenton’s approach to swing, which was always a bit different from most other bands. Kenton was often accused during the swing era of presenting pretentious, bombastic music, and that sometimes was true. But Stanley was always trying to add his own personal content to his music, and critics frequently did not recognize that. All too often, they criticized his music for not being like Goodman’s or Basie’s, which is not, in my view, valid criticism. Telling people what something in not is not a very effective way of telling them what it is.

“Concerto to End All Concertos” is an extended piece that evokes differing moods by utilizing a number of contrasting musical devices. The quiet opening chorus spots Kenton at the piano, setting out the main melody rhapsodically rubato. A descending piano figure, which is picked up by the bass (played admirably by Eddie Safranski), leads to a change of tempo, mood and intensity as the trombone quartet, always a prominent feature in Kenton’s music, plays the aggressively rhythmic secondary theme, at first with only support from the rhythm section, then with surging asides by the five saxophones and the soaring trumpets. The tempo decelerates as the descending and diminuendo trombones take the music to a quiet low chord.

Out of this quiet, Vido Musso on tenor saxophone appears most dramatically, with a shrieking upward arpeggio. He quickly descends into a romantic improvisation, his massive sound caressed by the warm, open trombones, which Kenton has harmonized beautifully. The saxophones then appear, playing rhythmically, for a brief interlude. The next soloist is trumpeter Ray Wetzel, one of the many young men who appeared during and after World War II in the world of swing, and pushed the range of the trumpet much higher. He starts out high, almost at a screech, then works his way down, soulfully. His playing contrasts nicely with what Musso had played before him.

Another interlude, something of a fanfare, played forcefully by the trombones, saxophones and finally the trumpets, falls away leaving only the rhythm section, led by Shelly Manne’s high-hat cymbals. Then the tempo increases. Alto saxophonist Henry “Boots” Mussulli steps forward with a virtuoso turn, his gleaming sound and fluid technique floating over the rhythm at first, then against a couple of brass swells. Once again, this solo is a most effective contrast to what had preceded it. The band plays a dramatic ascending sequence to end part one of this piece.

Kenton’s main theme reappears at the beginning of part two of “Concerto to End All Concertos,” played beautifully by Stan’s trombone quartet consisting of Kai Winding, Harry Forbes and Miff Sines on tenor trombones, and Bart Varsalona on bass trombone. Although Tommy Dorsey began to experiment with a four trombone section in 1938, and Glenn Miller followed in late 1939 (both of whom were trombonists), and then another trombonist, Ray Conniff, wrote some beautiful music for the four-man trombone section of Artie Shaw’s 1944-1945 band, Kenton took the use of his various trombone sections much further than any other bandleader. Kenton saw the musical possibilities of using his trombone sections to play long tracts of a beautiful melody, as we hear in this performance. Shortly after this recording was made, Kenton encouraged his musical collaborator, Pete Rugolo, to create an entire composition dedicated to his trombone section, the lovely “Interlude,” which can be accessed at endnote 4 below.

The next section to be featured are the saxophones. Everyone in the saxophone quintet, from lead alto Al Anthony all the way down to baritone Bob Gioga had to adjust their playing to balance the section’s volume around Vido Musso’s massive-toned and vigorously played tenor saxophone. Basically, they had to play much louder to be heard. Still, in this sequence, Musso’s rugged sound, playing in harmony with the lead alto, is readily discernible.

Kenton had earlier recorded a piece that featured his saxophone section, “Opus In Pastels,” which remained a staple in the Kenton band for some thirty years. The original recording of it and a beguiling later recording can be accessed at endnote (5).

The final section to be spotlighted in Kenton’s “Concerto to End All Concertos” is the trumpet section, led brilliantly by Buddy Childers. (Shown above in a multiple-exposure photo with Kenton.) How Stanley had the trumpets play their part in this recording is quite unusual and marvelously creative. They play quietly and somewhat off-mike, giving their sound an eerie, distant quality. They are supported by the bass of Eddie Safranski and gently the brushed snare drum, played by Shelly Manne. They build to a dynamic and dramatic crescendo and then descend into Safranski’s accelerating bass.

The chugging trombones, surging saxophones and powerful trumpets take the performance to its dramatic conclusion.

***************

“Concerto to End All Concertos”

Composed and arranged by Stan Kenton.

Recorded by Billy May and the Swing Era Orchestra on January 11, 1971 for Capitol in Hollywood.

Billy May directing: John Audino and/or Chuck Findley, first trumpet; John M. Best, Clarence F. “Shorty” Sherock, Uan Rasey, and Austin “Bud” Brisbois, trumpets; Richard T. “Dick” Nash, first trombone; Francis “Joe” Howard, Lloyd Ulyate, Lew McCreary, tenor trombones; Kenny Schroyer, bass trombone; Arthur “Skeets” Herfurt, first alto saxophone; Abe Most, alto saxophone; Justin Gordon, solo alto saxophone and tenor saxophone in the section; Plas Johnson, tenor saxophone; Chuck Gentry, baritone saxophone; Ray Sherman, piano; Jack Marshall, guitar; Morty Corb, bass; Nick Fatool, drums.

The story and the music:

For some reason, many of the recordings Stan Kenton made for the Capitol label in the mid-1940s had a strange ambient sound to them. First of all, there was quite a bit of echo in them, possibly generated by the natural reverb in the studio in which the recordings were made (Radio Recorders?). Also, it often seemed like the sound of the instruments was somewhat distant from the various microphones through which the sound was captured. This sound is in many ways the opposite of the sound of Artie Shaw’s 1944-1945 recordings, most of which were made in Los Angeles, but in another studio with other technicians, which seemed to be a very true capture of what went on in a studio devoid of natural reverb.

So to help listeners appreciate the many nuances in Stan Kenton’s composition/arrangement of “Concerto to End All Concertos that are simply not able to be heard in the original Kenton recording, I have included in this post a beautiful performance of it recorded in 1971 in a state-of-the-art studio, with master musicians, conducted by Billy May.

In addition to the ensemble parts of this performance which are played faultlessly, the solos are handled very well. Ray Sherman (shown at right), whose piano playing was always immaculate, handles the opening Kenton solo with aplomb. Plas Johnson (below left), whose sound on tenor saxophone was every bit as big as Vido Musso’s, evoked Vido spot-on. Trumpeter Bud Brisbois, a gilt-edge Kentonian himself, having spent from 1958 through 1961 as a member of the Kenton band, played the trumpet solo in “Concerto to End All Concertos” perfectly. I suspect that he may have played this solo a few times at least during his Kenton years. The flying alto saxophone solo, played here most effectively by Justin Gordon, displays his his highly individual sound on alto, which is quite different from the gleaming fluidity that was always present in the playing of Boots Mussulli.

Part two of Kenton’s concerto highlights the various sections. First, the trombones, under the luminous lead of Dick Nash, played against rich saxophone section chords at first, then without, and then indeed without rhythm section accompaniment. Then the saxophones, led through their sequence by Skeets Herfurt on alto, blended provocatively with the rumbling baritone of Chuck Gentry. (Below right: Skeets Herfurt and Chuck Gentry.) The haunting trumpet section part is set up by bassist Morty Corb, with drummer Nick Fatool, caressing a cymbal with his brushes. The trumpet section passage itself is performed brilliantly, with John Audino and/or Chuck Findley handling the lead. Bassist Corb picks up the tempo after this, followed by the aggressively rhythmic trombones in dialog with the reeds and trumpets, taking the performance to its powerful conclusion.

The recordings presented with this post were digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo.

Notes and links:

(1) The Kenton Kronicles …a Biography of America’s Man of Music, Stan Kenton (2000), by Steven D. Harris, 35.

(2) Ibid.

(3) Ibid. 36.

(4) Here is a link to the Kenton recording of “Interlude,” composed and arranged by Pete Rugolo, and a later vocal version, featuring the singing of June Christy:  “Interlude” Stan Kenton/Pete Rugolo (1947) / June Christy/Pete Rugolo (1957) – Swing & Beyond

(5) Here is a link to Kenton’s “Opus in Pastels”: https://swingandbeyond.com/2021/03/05/opus-in-pastels-1941-and-1963-stan-kenton/