The Kenton Band

Some feel that the decibel levels of popular music have gotten out of hand.  Others say the louder the better. There doesn't seem to be an easy solution to this problem.

Although manufacturing facilities (factories) have guidelines to deal with excessive” noise," the "music" business doesn't seem to have such noticeable restrictions, at least not that are enforceable. After all, volume seems to a component of the "product." Rock is meant to be played loud.

Big Bands during their era were also strong bordering on the powerful (no amplification) but also added another element that of high playing brass. Stan Kenton with Maynard Ferguson was a good example of both of these features coming together. Stan was always prodding the band to play louder.  He was never satisfied with the volume. He always wanted more. 

It got to be so demanding for the brass, that they wore "supports" around their diaphragms so that they wouldn't strain themselves.  Bud Brisbois who took Maynard's place in Kenton's band almost fainted in one of his "high" note solos.  Fortunately Stan saw him in distress and steadied him before he fell over.

Buddy Childers (Stan's lead trumpet player for many years) did black out while holding onto a high note at the end of one tune.   Buddy mentions (in an article on his web site) that the next thing he remembered was looking up to the ceiling with the mouthpiece more or less still on his "face." He just keeled over backwards. Fortunately he didn't hurt himself.

I heard the Kenton band for the first time in around 1944 (London Arena) and still remember the volume.  It was unbelievable. The guys in the band were thinking of buying Stan a hearing aid. They suspected he didn't know they were playing that loud.  His music was written with volume in mind and of course high register.

Bill Holman (a noted arranger) did some of the writing for the Kenton band. There was a period in the band's history when the band actually "swung". This was largely attributed to Holman's writing and a few others that wrote with that in mind.

One day Kenton (according to Al Porcino, trumpet player) assessed the direction the band had taken and decided to pull those (swinging) charts and go back to his "Artistry" album style. In Stan's words, "I'll leave the swinging to those other guys, Basie and Herman."  It seemed like a rather strange choice. Why not do both.

It seems that volume is also a problem in Symphony Orchestras. One guest symphony conductor on his very first day of rehearsal for the upcoming concert season was asked if he had any comments.  He said the orchestra was already too loud. It should be noted that they hadn't taken their instruments out of their cases yet. However, in this idiom a complete dynamic range is very desirable.

Seiji Ozawa conductor for the Toronto Symphony some years ago was interviewed in one of the local newspapers. The interviewer asked the maestro what he thought of the Toronto symphony in comparison to other major orchestras. He complained, "Bwas too Wowd." Oh boy....

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