1962 · Album
Adventures in Time
Recorded 1962 · Capitol Records · Composer: Johnny Richards
Kenton and Richards Reach for the Avant-Garde
Kenton and Richards combined big band with European orchestral complexity in ways few jazz ensembles attempted.
Stan Kenton and composer Johnny Richards set out to do something that made plenty of people uncomfortable: fold the ambitions of European concert music into a jazz big band framework. Adventures in Time is the result, and it sounds like nothing else in Kenton's catalog. Richards wrote pieces that demanded unusual voicings, extended harmonies, and a kind of structural sophistication that pushed against what audiences expected from a dance band or a swing ensemble. The orchestra had to think differently — these weren't vehicles for soloists to stretch out over changes, but carefully orchestrated arguments where the band itself was the instrument. Kenton leaned into this fully. Some critics found the whole thing bombastic and antijazz, missing the point entirely. But William Grim at All About Jazz heard what was actually happening: Kenton doing at the big band scale exactly what the Modern Jazz Quartet was doing in the chamber setting — building a bridge between jazz and formal composition without surrendering either idiom. The individual melodies aren't the draw here, as AllMusic reviewer Scott Yanow observed, but the architecture is. If you approach this as a curious footnote or a museum piece, you'll miss it. If you listen for Kenton's willingness to fail in service of something larger, you'll find a genuinely strange and fearless record.
Who's playing
Jim Amlottebass trombone
Bucky Calabresebass
Joel Kayebass saxophone
Stan Kentonpiano
Gabe Baltazaralto saxophone
Allan Beutlerbaritone saxophone
Ray Floriantenor saxophone
Don Menzatenor saxophone
Bob Behrendttrumpet
Keith LaMottetrumpet
Gary Slavotrumpet
Dalton Smithtrumpet
Marvin Stammtrumpet
Bob Fitzpatricktrombone
Bud Parkertrombone
Tom Ringotrombone
Dee Bartondrums
Steve Dweckpercussion
Joe Burnettmellophone
Dwight Carvermellophone
Lou Gascamellophone
Ray Starlingmellophone
Dave Wheelertuba
Where next?
More by Stan Kenton
All 37 albums →
