John Tapscott

"Curtains" - the final (and trio only) track from this fine CD. Have had it for years but never paid much attention to it. The whole recording is highly recommended.

Well, I have 2 of them - Introducing SS and Sienna Red. I think they're very good. Don't underestimate yourself.

That's too bad, because the "Neophonic" was almost a footnote to his main career, and never really caught on as Kenton intended (and cost him a boatload of money). And as Jim indicated there were some good albums that came afterwards with regular band personnel - the Barton thing and the 3 Live University albums. I personally think the two live Neophonic releases are quite good (esp. Vol. 1).

I agree. One of his early compositions/arrangements pretty much set the template for the band's sound for the ensuing decades. "Concerto to End All Concertos (terrible title, I know), but still sounds pretty good today (written in '42; recorded in '46). And those early Kenton reed section charts, "Opus in Pastels"; "Reed Rapture," "Etude for Saxophones" were pretty darn good; almost unique saxophone voicings for the day. I still enjoy listening to them. I think the demands of band leading and the music business pretty much overwhelmed Kenton and kept him away from doing a whole lot of writing himself as time went by. Besides, when you've got Rugolo, Holman, Richards, Russo, Roland, Niehaus etc. you might as well leave it to those guys. But a couple of later Kenton charts were good - "Opus for Tympani" and "Gloomy Sunday" to name two.

Really enjoying this set.

A fine recording.