Customer Reviews

7.5 On The Richter Scale

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kenton had a few good albums in the 1970s and this isn't one of them. In fact, this is perhaps the weakest due to the material and the performances. The band is extremely sloppy (especially the trumpet section), the saxes are under-recorded, and everyone, including Kenton, sounds like they can't wait for it all to be over. You might feel the same way after a listen.

I have this CD because I'm a Kenton completist, but there are some worthwhile moments, like "Body and Soul" (that's completely out of place on this record), and Peter Erskine lays down a nice groove behind the trumpet solo on "Blue Gene." "Being Green" would've been a nice dramatic chart if not for the embarrassing, monotone group vocal...just try and concentrate on the flugelhorn solo in the background of the middle eight.

Fans of rockish stage band charts will like this album, but put purists be warned.

I own quite a lot of big band cd's, and when I heard this record for the very first time, I directly knew: this is the BigBand cd to have. Sharp trumpets, soft saxes, heavy trombones, exeptional good solo's. This is definitely value for money.

If you only have a choice of one Kenton recordings then it should be this album. From the first note this album will give you goose bumps if you are a true Kenton fan. A must to own.

I am often disappointed by Kenton albums, but two of his albums stick out as amazing... and this is one of them. The recording quality is amazing and captures the vitality of a well rehearsed and very able funky big band. Blue Gene is the funkiest big band tune I've ever heard... absolutely brilliant.

The incredible arrangement and performance on "Body and Soul" makes this cd worth buying. So what if the rest is rubbish? You will play "Body" over and over, as I have.

I got this as a gift because I enjoy Stan's work. What a bummer. Any true Kenton fan knows that when Rugolo and Maynard left, Kenton never had original stuff anymore, and this album was an attempt to make another ill-advised come-back. If you like Kenton, get the Progressive Jazz albums cut before 1950.