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stan kenton - the prologue lyrics

[part i: safranski / opus in pastels / concerto / elegy for alto / salute]

[instrumental]

[part ii: theme for sunday]

you know, in a comparative manner
the growth of the kenton orchestra has been in a small way
a representative pattern in a certain period in the progress of jazz
and in the album of music to follow, you may see this pattern in detail
as you hear the documentary evidence of all of our struggles to grow
from then until now

[part iii: artistry in rhythm]

with us, as i reminisce about the beginnings
there was an experimental rehearsal with eleven musicians
in los angeles in, in 1940
i bеlieved in the musicians i had callеd
and they reflected enough positive reaction to the music i had written
to, to urge me further
at the top there were bands like benny goodman, there was glenn miller
artie shaw, the lunceford band, and of course duke ellington
in our first public appearances in 1941
our jazz, like that of the big names, was fitted into dance music
you know, in that era people stood and listened, or they danced
because none of the jazz at that time was
too complex rhythmically for dance music
[part iv: harlem folk dance]

it was the beginning of the jitterbugs
and they, as well as most of the dancers, they liked to beat
so at the rendezvous ballroom at balboa beach, california
with men like jack ordean, red dorris, chico alvarez and howard rumsey
we played a music that sounded like this
there were a lot of sharp, accented offbeats
many improvised solos
and most introductions, endings and interludes
were like powerful brass fanfares
i guess we played at top pitch all the time because
well, we were young, and i am sure we wanted to be noticed

[part v: opus in pastels]

three years followed this with not much progress musically or otherwise
we like all other young jazz orchestras
were either too loud, too fast, too slow, or worse yet
what we were playing sounded like nonsense
because there were no popular songs
and we were very short on hit parade material
we made many trips from the palladium in hollywood
to the meadowbrook in jersey
the panther room in chicago, and stops in between
we had our share of cancellations, criticisms
and i guess we had our average amount of abuse
but as i look back on it now, i realize that what we were having
was actually just considered normal growing pains
[part vi: ev’ry time we say goodbye / and her tears flowed like wine]

during this period, we tried many types of music
and experimented continually
in an effort to appease the ballroom men, the hotel operators
agents, radio networks, our recording company
and of course the music publishers
forgetting about the jazz format for the moment
we tried to create a sweet commercial style
we had gene howard singing the ballads
we had anita o’day doing the rhythm tunes

[part vii: eager beaver]

and i guess the few contributions we made to jazz during that period?
well, maybe the most important was “eager beaver”
somehow out of all the confusion
i realized that two important developments had taken place
first, though we had drifted far from our course
and struggled continually for simple survival
we had weathered the heaviest storm: that of getting started
and second, our attempts at musical appeas+m+nt would
never be the answer
though the band was now past the dangers of infancy
i knew we should never go further unless we returned to
our original purpose: jazz
[part viii: artistry in rhythm]

we relieved the library of every gimmick, experiment
and started blowing again with the same conscientiousness
that we had in the beginning
and, as if by magic, interest in the music
instead of hanging out pathetically, began to soar
september 1945 found us at the cafe rouge
in the hotel pennsylvania in new york
the band had grown in personnel
now we had four trumpets instead of three
and of course we had four trombones instead of two

[part ix: intermission riff]

once again, we were working with brass
and the great excitement that comes from brass
you know, the wonderful woody herman band at that time
had just been accepted by the people playing a most exciting jazz
thereby rekindling our belief and enthusiasm
in our own conception of music
so again with men like eddie safranski, kai winding, buddy childers
vido musso, boots mussulli, and of course june christy

[part x: artistry jumps / painted rhythm / tampico / artistry in bolero]

we contributed “artistry jumps”
“painted rhythm”
“tampico,” and then came our first album, artistry in rhythm
in a year or so, we started breaking attendance records
and our record sales became big
this continued until the spring of 1947
when gratified by the public’s enthusiasm, but utterly exhausted
we dissolved the band for a six months rest
by now, the music of artistry in rhythm was firmly established

[part xi: ain’t no misery in me]

i began to realize the vast possibilities of the sound of the jazz musician
with kai winding’s trombone, for instance
we found that we could create great character
even without the presence of a rhythm section setting a beat
a good example was the sound created on gene roland’s
“ain’t no misery in me”
this to me opened a new field
we now had complete freedom with the jazz emotion
we could write our music in any movement
because beside setting it to a swing beat
we had the advantages of gaining contrast and freshness
even without tempo

[part xii: impressionism / concerto / cuban carnival / elegy for alto]

so in 1947 with the addition of sh+lley manne, laurindo almeida
milt bernhart, ray wetzel, jack costanzo, george weidler
and of course bob cooper
our music that was now called “progressive jazz”
managed to succeed in our first concert tour
and our first album of the music
there was rugolo’s “impressionism”
the “concerto to end all concertos”
the cuban influence became prevalent in “cuban carnival” and “machito”
then there was “elegy for alto” and of course, many others

[part xiii: theme to the west / trajectories / mirage]

the enthusiasm for progressive jazz renewed our faith
in the necessity to keep moving forward with, with our music
concerts were a strain, financially
and required periodic returns to hotels and ballrooms to help support them
but the interest of our listeners was unmistakeable
and our own integrity demanded that this interest
be justified and encouraged
believing in the importance of jazz as an expression of the american people
we inaugurated a series of concerts in 1950
known as “innovations in modern music”
with every conceivable advantage offered by forty musicians
including strings, h+rns and woodwinds
our music took on almost a classical aspect
while it was still jazz, we brought in the formally educated creative talents
of such men as franklyn marks, johnny richards, bob graettinger
and of course again pete rugolo
and presented to the serious jazz listener
such widely varied compositions as
“trajectories,” “soliloquy,” “incident in jazz,” and of course “mirage”
we cannot honestly ignore the fact that
public acceptance of the more modern jazz expressions
is still to a large degree a limited one
our music, as well as the rest of modern jazz
has moved further and further away from popular music
and because it has become more complex, it has lost favor with some

[part xiv: september song / the opener / improvisation]

so to encourage the development of the music itself
and the taste of our audience for the music
we now create, orchestrate and perform three distinct idioms
the lighter, more popular type of music
modern jazz, which is in a constant state of growth
and the very advanced music that is highly experimental

[part xv: a theme of four values]

even in the popular idiom
we are constantly seeking new and fresh means of expressing this music
which has such universal appeal
to cease to do so would be to cease to grow
and i believe sincerely that our organization
lives only by growth and by development
it is too early yet to attempt to ascertain whether our efforts over the years
have contributed to the development of the world’s music
i feel it is probably enough to know
that in the most exciting period music has ever known
we are at least a part of one ingredient
necessary to its technical and emotional growth
this being jazz

- stan kenton lyrics

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