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(Stan Kenton - his new directions in jazz puzzled a lot of people)

Something almost completely different tonight. A live broadcast from The Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 14, 1953. Stan Kenton and His Orchestra. Kenton was one of the pioneers of "New Jazz", taking the traditional big band concept and elaborating on it in a way that converted a dancing audience into a listening one. To some people it was considered strange and inaccessible (though no stranger than the experiments of Sun Ra, for example). But Kenton won a large number of followers during his two+ decades of popularity and he was responsible for helping launch the careers of several musicians, including singers Anita O'Day and June Christy.

Pretty tame by today's standards with many listeners wondering what all the fuss was about. And mostly shoved into the background by the contributions of other innovative musicians of the Jazz idiom from the period. Still, he made some interesting music during a period of time when music was heading into many different directions all at once.

And this broadcast of a live gig was a typical example.

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(Gerald Wilson - at 91, no stopping in sight)

I was thinking today about what a great Jazz scene there was on the West Coast in the 1940s, 50s and early 60s. Certainly in Los Angeles and the famous Central Avenue scene. There have been some books written and a few compilations that introduce an audience to this rich vein of musical history, but so far nothing that really dives in and explores the extraordinary talent that showed up and gigged around L.A. during those days.

One of those extraordinary greats was/is Gerald Wilson. Still going strong at 91 (last I heard he was music Director for the Monterey Jazz Festival), Wilson has hosted a veritable who's who of Jazz greats over the years.

This track, Mambo Mexicano, comes from a series of sessions he did in 1954 with his band that included Clark Terry, Paul Gonsalves and Teddy Edwards. This pre-dates his long association with Pacific Jazz, and is an indication of which direction he was headed.

Things were definitely happening on the West Coast.