I saw Stan Kenton's band w/ my grandmother in Chicago, when I was 10 yrs. old. I was blown away by so many different sounds, in Stan's incredible eclectic Band. John Parks was a natural Genius--his Sax playing is unreal. The BEST of the BEST!!
James Penna, Dad was so proud of being on the band with Kim (bari sax). He said that to his knowledge, it was the first time any big band had a father and son at the same time. Kim and Mary were not yet married, but he already loved her like a daughter.
I first saw the Kenton orchestra in the late 50s in little Janesville, Iowa and I didn't want the evening to end. My friends and I stood right next to the bandstand and enjoyed the great Kenton sound for several hours. We got to talk with Stan and he was very personable. Oh how I wish that amazing sound was present today.
I first saw him when i was, i think 8 or 9 at Chippewea Lake Park near Akron in 1952. H elooked down at me and asked what id like to hear. I told him Peanut Vendor, and it was the next chart they pulled up. :)
Saw Stan Kenton at Crystal Beach Ontario ballroom in the mid 1960’s. My best friend’s dad got us interested in big bands and jazz. We were. In our mid teens. Loved the music of Kenton, Basie, Brubeck. He helped to widen our scope of the love of music.
I have been a listening and amateur jazz musician for over fifty years and never paid any attention to this wonderful Stan Kenton Orchestra. The harmonies and the color of the instruments sound wonderful despite the years and are a delight to the spirit.
Oh for a renewal of the big bands of the 40's Kenton so personified both music and extreme talented players.. Musical scores provided the rich harmonics of both piano and trombones... Can't get enough.. Saw Kenton for the first and only time during basic training at Ft. Dix, N.J..
You know, have always been a Kenton disciple but never really appreciated all the subtle nuances. Now that I’m old, am hearing hidden treasures had never heard before.
Maybe it was the dissonant chord structure of Kenton music I so loved what could be accomplished harmonically .. Chord structure and arrangements took some doing and collaboration outstanding.
When you think about it..most of the personnel from the Johnny Richards and Maynard Ferguson band were Stan’s alumni’s....they were all from Westlake college. Stan did not pay his sidemen a lot of money when they went on the road....the real band was when only featured when he had a local gig or in the recording studio....just check the list out Stan Levy, Mel Lewis, Don Bagley, Russ Freeman, Marty Pritchard, the Condoli Bros, Maynard Ferguson, Frank Rosolino, Frank Reehak, Vido Mussolini, Charlie Mariano, Lennie Neuhaus, Ralph Blaise, Al Porcino, and sooooo many more. I took a road gig with him once but it only lasted a week....$150 and you hade to pay for your food ..could,nt afford it...I eventually joined Johnny Richards. .....but Stan had a great band. Check out the LP/CD “Artistry in Rhythm”...I have never heard a big band swing more!!!!!!
What a shame John Park died so young. I was fortunate enough to see and hear the Stan Kenton Band at the Hollywood Bowl in Southern California around 1972or 3. Stan Getz was also on the program. As much as I loved Getz, it John Park that blew me away. If there is a Heaven above, I hope you guys are up there. Thanks for posting. PS, I guess Stan Kenton died just before John passed away.
It is such a shame he died so young at only 42, and just before he was to make an album with Stan Getz too. I took lessons with John '76-78 and I remember mentioning to him I'd heard Stan was in the hospital, and John said he was strong and would be fine. I think Kenton did die just a few months before John in '79. John was such a nice guy, and funny too, had great sense of humor. One time he was at my high school band hall and a kid was making a bunch of noise on the kettle drums, so John said "I think I've enjoyed about as much of that as I can stand". 😂
John Park was an absolute monster! He started having pretty serious heart issues in the mid 70s, and left the Kenton band. Those problems lingered, and he passed away in 1979, I believe. I knew John, and performed with him quite a bit when we both lived in Houston, Texas! He was a great person, and was eager to help others! He is missed!
I remember, I think he had a triple bypass, had to come off the road. He sold cars at Gay Pontiac at one point. I took lessons with him in the shed he had in his backyard, a literal woodshed lol! Nicest guy you'd want to meet. And one of the greatest players ever, no doubt about it. Miss him a lot, him and Tony Campise.
I'm not sure he ever got to the surgery. His heart wasn't strong enough for it. One reason he lived in the Houston area was because they were doing the bypass surgeries down there with great success. He actually lived in Dickinson, which was just North of Texas City! We'd ride to gigs together and he'd be popping nitroglycerin pills because of the pain. He later moved to Richardson, TX. because of the school system for his daughter. His brother told me, at the funeral, that heart problems ran in their family!
@@rhrh2025 I took lessons with him in Dickinson. He lived in Bayou Chantilly. He played with our jazz band at Dickinson high school a few times. Don Owens, our director, knew him. Needless to say, he blew everyone away with his tone, technique and improv. That tone! Posted some of it here. You can hear the audience respond with whistles and whoo's when he starts playing at 0:45 on "Nobody's Fool" here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Lrh5anTqje0.html&feature=share7
@@cooljazzr Thanks! I'll listen to it tonight. He played a New York Meyer 7M.with a wedge. He used to send me the material he used for the wedge. It was a pink dental molding mixture! I lived in Dickinson too, while I was there!
Superb sounds from a great concept arrangement by the remarkable Kenton, with full sonority, subtle section work, solo excellence, all in a balance of performance of one of the few really great popular songs. I've had some old Kenton L P's from the sixties, with a growing awareness of the tremendous drive to excel in sheer sonority that Kenton had.
This video is probably from the 1974 Stan Kenton 'Big Bands From The Dorchester' BBC TV series, in which case the line-up is: Paul Adamson, Michael Barrowman, Dennis Noday, Gary Pack, Mike Snustead, trumpet; Dale Devoe, Bill Hartman, Dick Shearer, Lloyd Spoon, Mike Wallace, trombone; Kim Childers, Mary Fettig, John Park, Roy Reynolds, Richard Torres, reeds; Stan Kenton, piano, leader; Kerby Stewart, acoustic double bass; Peter Erskine, drums; Ramon Lopez, Latin percussion.
I love this chart but I think the recording is a little later than 1970. I saw the band in 1970 and have some recordings on right around there and Quin Davis was still playing also with John von Ohlen on drums. The female sax player (Mary Fettig?) also came on board after 1970. Hell of a performance.
You're right. I'm pretty sure it was 1973. The videotape I bought said 1970, but I think John Park was in the band in 1973, maybe also late '72, early '74, but not sure. He had to leave to have heart bypass surgery. What a genius he was!
This is the only video I've been able to find of John Park. I do have a bunch of audio of John on my channel. Check him out playing "My Funny Valentine" - Amazing! m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pMsBFKqhdEU.html
if only John Park would have lived longer he would have given Charlie Parker a run for his money.. Park was superb .. more than just notes be flung off the wall but a true artist who belonged on Center Stage ... bobby G.............
John Park was my roomie/friend/companion 1964-65 Army band Ft Leonard Wood MO. I also played sax. Also was John's pit crew at Cabool dirt race. Played a few off-post gigs with him after duty hours, off post.
My parents both musicians had the privilege to see Stan Kenton Big Band they said he was the rebel of the big bands doing things unheard of back then ...
@@fredfungalspore Rebel, yes! There's a sound...a feeling...a something in Kenton's music that I think could be characterized as "rebelling!" And yet, celebrating, as well. Thanks for sharing and thanks for all the comments. I enjoyed reading them.
