Customer Reviews

Back To Balboa

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have this selection on vinyl, and is one of my favorite Kenton albums. I immediately ordered the CD when it came out, not expecting much quality since it was recorded in the 50's. However, I must say the fidelity is truly amazing. What a wonderful job the Blue Note engineering staff has done. I'll say it again--truly amazing. Liner notes are excellent, and tell that the sessions were also recorded in stereo, however the mix was off, so therefore the original LP and the CD likewise were released in mono. Every Kenton fan must add this CD to their collection along with Kenton in HiFi, Cuban Fire, and the Standards albums. Most of these are mono, but never mind--the quality of the musicianship is there, and the fidelity is great.
Frank in Tennessee

Buyer beware! This Cd release by EMI/Capitol is a MONO issue. According to the liner notes and I quote " Many of the solosists are completely off-mike....etc". This from Michael Cascuna, a man who I admire for what he's done for Jazz. I acquired a mint Lp copy to replace my battered Cap Lp and the solosists are not off-mike in my opinion. My bet is they couldn't find the original stereo tapes or didn't want to bother to "correct" them. That's why they put knobs on equipment. So do as I did and get yourself a mint Lp and make your own Cd. And while your at it you had also better get a copy of "Rendezvous With Kenton" in stereo.

I still have the original Lp in my collection. I'm veru glad with this fine CD with a couple of nice recordings from Stan's Balbao time. I think there are NO stereo recordings from these events, so these are the best things you get.

This is one of the best albums the Kenton orchestra ever recorded. It is the Kenton orchestra from the west coast jazz era (50s - 60s) with the cool sounds. The solos by Lennie Niehaus and Bill Perkins are fabulous. I bought this on LP back in 1958 when it first came out and thought it would never come out on CD. I realize that the recording was not done with 21st century technology, but then most good music out there has not been recorded with that either. If you love Kenton, you'll love this one.

Good CD for Kenton fans. Some of his best works - My Old Flame, The Big Chase, I Concentrate on You - as well as some new (to me) tunes.

In the early days of stereo LP's, Capitol would often record stereo and mono versions of the same album in separate takes. They did it with "Kenton in Hi-Fi", three albums by Harry James ("Wild About Harry", "The New James", "Harry's Choice"), "Back To Balboa", and many others. An extreme example was the June Christy album "Something Cool", in which Capitol brought Ms. Christy back to the studio several years after the original mono release, to record the exact same songs and arrangements in stereo!! Kenton himself released the stereo versions of both "Kenton in Hi-Fi" (renamed "Kenton in Stereo") and "Back To Balboa" on his "Creative World" label in the 1970's. I know -- I have them both. The mono versions of these albums often sounded better than their stereo counterparts (at least to my ears), in large part because recording engineers were still finding their way in defining optimal miking and mixing techniques for the new stereo medium. Capitol had long been a leader in High Fidelity mono recording. The sound of these albums was generally excellent (check out "Harry James in Hi-Fi" some time), hence the tendency to release their CD reissues in mono rather than stereo. Having said all of that (whew), I would have to say that the sound quality of this mono release of "Back To Balboa" is roughly equivalent to that of Kenton's "Creative World" stereo LP. A draw, so to speak. The music, of course, is excellent, with the possible exception of Red Kelly's rambling bass line in "The Big Chase", which sounds (with all due respect to the great Red) as if he might have been tipping a few beforehand.

While I agree that the fidelity of a recording is important, and that a poor recording can ruin a great performance, I get a little annoyed by reviewers who put down a CD simply because it doesn't sound like it was produced using today's sophisticated equipment. "Back To Balboa" is a case in point. To some reviewers of this CD, originally released as an LP by Capitol Records, it seems to be a "big deal" that it was only recorded in monaural sound. So? The recording dates were in October, 1957 and January, 1958. What did they expect? For its day, the sound quality of this CD is absolutely superb. Forget all the high-tech sound equipment that didn't even exist at the time and LISTEN TO WHAT THIS KENTON ORCHESTRA IS DOING! "Back To Balboa" exhibits the epitome of big band jazz, Kenton style. And to use a worn and tired, overworked term... yes, this band "SWINGS", in spite of Kenton's detractors who say otherwise. If you want to hear fantastic big band jazz, albeit recorded over 50 years ago, performed in a manner that set the standard for jazz musicians of today, buy this CD! If you listen to no more than two cuts, the Marty Paich arrangement of "My Old Flame" and the Bill Holman arrangement of "I Concentrate On You", your money will have been well spent. Review by John Zarro

Inverno del 1957. Il mio primo viaggio in California. Parigi-New York con scalo rifornimento a Terranova. Tappa a Phoenix. Infine arrivai a S. Francisco. Mi ci vollero otto ore per raggiungere la penisola di Balboa, Newport Beach ed il mitico Rendezvous. Era un pomeriggio invernale. Stan Kenton stava provando con la big band. Da 4 mesi aveva affittato quella meravigliosa sala da ballo per gettare l'east coast in un turbine di progressioni. Fu un vero fallimento (per Stan). Non per me: ascoltai un grande band leader. In quei mesi, più visionario del Duca.
Il padre di Arthur Cravan