| City of Glass | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Stan Kenton | ||||
| Released | -1951 original LP -1995 re-issue CD |
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| Recorded | - 1947-1953 -in Hollywood, CA. (1951 original 10" LP) -other tracks in in Hollywood, CA. or New York City, 1947-1953 |
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| Genre | Jazz, Big band, instrumental, Experimental music, Third stream, Avante Garde | |||
| Length | 63:15 | |||
| Label | Capitol Records | |||
| Producer | Pete Rugolo, Jim Conkling Lee Gillette CD by Michael Cuscuna |
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| Stan Kenton chronology | ||||
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| cat # Capitol H353 (10" LP) Capitol Jazz 7243 8 32084 2 5 (CD) |
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City of Glass is originally a 10" LP by Stan Kenton, the album consists entirely of the music of Bob Graettinger. The original album has been reconstituted in different LP re-issues and the entire set of Kenton/Graettinger Capitol Records sessions are on the digital CD City of Glass.
Contents |
There is a great deal written in music history books about the period of artistic experimentalism after World War II in Europe and the United States. Much like the period in France after the Franco-Prussian War (Impressionism) and in the late 19th century, the pre/post World War I period of (Expressionism), the post World War II period of Modernism was no different with composers trying to 'write music for the sake of music' and not attaching it to a social meaning or meant for a social cause (see Darmstadt School). The LP City of Glass and the whole body of work from the Stan Kenton orchestra and Robert Graettinger (1947–1953) is a direct product of the experimental American music scene of the post World War II era. Though overshadowed historically by other compositional endeavours in jazz at the time attributed to George Russell, Neal Hefti or Lennie Tristano, Graettinger and City of Glass is important in the progress that was to be part of Third stream jazz.
This overall period of the Kenton orchestra (1947–1953) was the most innovative and fertile in terms of purely artistic output. Stan Kenton had reformed his orchestra in September 1947 with the avowed intention of playing "progressive" jazz designed specifically for the concert hall.[1] Graettinger's music (as well as Pete Rugolo, Manny Albam, William Russo, Franklyn Marks, and Shorty Rogers) involves a great departure for Kenton so to produce a new American music. City of Glass and those Capitol Records recording sessions become a logical step starting with band leaders such as James Reese Europe, Paul Whiteman, and others earlier attempting to elevate the art form of jazz beyond just "hot jazz" and jam session playing. There is a very clear connection to be made in the progress of large ensemble music that Graettinger's opus's would not just 'appear out of nowhere.' Contemporaries of the Kenton/Graettinger collaboration during that time such as Boyd Raeburn (w/Eddie Finckel and George Handy) and Claude Thornhill (w/Gil Evans) help to clarify the important place where City of Glass sits in jazz history. The City of Glass sessions are part of a bigger portrait making Graettinger an important figure in the painting.
Robert Graettinger's "Thermopylae" (from the City of Glass CD) is the first Graettinger work recorded by the Kenton Orchestra (December of 1947); the title referring to the famous Battle of Thermopylae fought in 480 BC between the Greeks and Persians. Venudor's and Cox's comparison to Dimitri Mosolov's Iron Foundry is not too far off[2] but Thermopylae can better be compared to Italian Futurism music as well as larger more involved movements of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's suites of the time (George Antheil's music would be another). Graettinger's treatment of the sax section juxtaposed against the straight 8th note pulse with Weidler's muscular 'Hodgesesque' lead alto playing places the work firmly in the camp of Ellington's 'Jungle Music,' the influence of Benny Carter's playing and writing is clearly evident also.[3] Graettinger's intention is far closer to jazz than to the modernism of Russians or any classical music of the time; this makes it no less innovative but merely assigns the lineage to a more accurate place. Second alto saxophonist/clarinetist Art Pepper sums up the comparison to Ellington this way, "...Graettinger didn't just write for a band, or for sections; he wrote for each individual person, more or less as Ellington did. It was so difficult to play because you were independent of the guy next to you." [4]
The arrangement of Matt Dennis's Everything Happens To Me (June Christy, vocal) was not done under Kenton's aegis but with Christy's later to be husband Bob Cooper as the leader just after the second AFM recording ban. This is added to the CD and shows the continuity of Graettinger's writing and recorded works for Capitol; the chart had originally been done for the full Kenton instrumention but was never recorded. The small 11 piece group (to include violin and cello) provides some real insight to the inner workings of Graettinger's writing. The aesture nature of his arrangement and use of pantonality (one might call it atonality in spots) makes one wonder how June Christy is able to pick off the 9th of the F minor chord at the top of the tune; there is basically no clue given by Graettinger as to what pitch is coming for the singer (the glue that holds this together is the Bb pedal point at the bottom). Interestingly, after first stating the entire tune there is a tutti ensemble section that gives way to the 'last 'A' of the form'.[5] Also, his harmonic transitions between sections are key in their departure from the tune compared to the established harmony while June Christy sings.
Of the works recorded by Capitol Records, Incident in Jazz is probably the most compositionally unified of Graettinger's and shows his full capabilities as an orchestral writer in progressive jazz or as a Third stream music composer. This is part of the new 'Innovations in Modern Music' orchestra that Stan Kenton had marshalled into the studio to record these groundbreaking sides. Kenton comments on the unprecedented conditions this orchestra operated under, "The Capitol people were with me all the way. There were tremendous sums of money involved in recording this orchestra and selling the music that was of such an unusual nature. I remember hour upon hour in the studio while we were recording, and there was no thought of how much it would cost: the thought was only to make the finest recordings that we knew how." [6] The largesse of Capitol Records and Kenton himself would only last (roughly) six months until a more conventional, financially solvent Kenton 'dance' orchestra would be reformed to cut sides with the popular Capitol artist Nat King Cole. Graettinger's "House of Strings" (Aug 24, 1950) is recorded on a split session with popular Les Baxter sides; the Kenton 'Innovations Orchestra' as a regular touring and studio unit had come and gone quickly due to financial failure.[7]
After a years hiatus from the recording of Graetinger's works, both producer Lee Gilllette and Stan Kenton were able to cajole a reluctant Capitol Records management into assembling a 1951 version of the 'Innovations Orchestra' to record.[8] The group's studio time on December 5 and 7 was entirely devoted to Graettinger's music; primarily the four movement City of Glass suite (add "A HORN" from This Modern World). This was the rewritten version from the original premirered and Civic Opera House in Chicago in 1947 (the reception of the premiere by public was quite indifferent).[9] Olivier Messiaen's "Mode de Valeurs et Dintensites" (1949) comes to mind with the first opening music of Graettinger's Entrance Into The City (in two parts). The fascinating aspect are the 'jagged edges' (akin to Anton Webern) and use of free dissonance by each composer while (simultaneously) writing across the Atlantic from one another. In essence, the same effect was being achieved with little to no knowledge of one anothers work. The second movement (The Structures) is quite effective to the level of Incident in Jazz recorded almost two years before. Both are well balanced works successfully set in jazz 'grooves' juxtaposed to tonal dissonance like George Russell's groundbreaking 1949 "A Bird in Igor's Yard" (also recorded by Capitol during that time). The third and last movement is much more romantic in approach; almost to the point of imagining it being a set of opera scenes from Richard Strauss's Elektra or Alban Berg's Wozzeck (Graettinger was long a fan of opera and ballet).[10] There is some stunningly beautiful lyrical playing by members of the Kenton orchestra in this final movement.[11]
The remaining works on the CD primarily comprise the later released This Modern World. Graettinger's trombone feature on the standard "You Go To My Head" is included here and was aimed at the first release of "New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm." [12][13][14] Each piece stands on its own and do not really comprise a unified theme or 'set' of concert works. Some of the works ("A Thought", "Some Saxophones") were not even supervised in the recording process by Stan Kenton himself[15] in that he was out on tour with the orchestra. This would be Graettinger's last tenure with the Stan Kenton recordings in the studio as composer, conductor, or supervisor.
Bob Graettinger died an untimely dealth to lung cancer in 1957 at the age of 33; he lived a great deal of his personal life enigmatic and as a loner. "I've never had a technique to execute my ideas. I work from the idea, and have acquainted myself with the physical laws of sound. I use a different technique for each idea." He elaborates further, "The way I hear music is a series of constantly changing tensions. What I hear isn't individual melodies or harmonies, but something more like abstract shapes in motion."[10] This set of recordings from the CD City of Glass are a vitally important archive to American 20th Century music and jazz history. The Bob Graettinger compositions and subsequent recordings will stand the test of time and are important to the history of American music.
All songs written and composed by Robert Graettinger (except #2 and #12, Graettinger as arranger).
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Thermopylae" | 2:53 |
| 2. | "Everything Happens To Me (Matt Dennis)" | 2:59 |
| 3. | "Incident In Jazz" | 3:26 |
| 4. | "House Of Strings" | 4:15 |
| 5. | "A Horn" | 4:04 |
| 6. | "City Of Glass (1st Movement-Part 1): Entrance Into The City" | 4:30 |
| 7. | "City Of Glass (1st Movement-Part 2): The Structures" | 3:46 |
| 8. | "City Of Glass (2nd Movement): Dance Before The Mirror" | 4:22 |
| 9. | "City Of Glass (3rd Movement): Reflections" | 3:53 |
| 10. | "Modern Opus" | 3:14 |
| 11. | "A Cello" | 4:59 |
| 12. | "You Go To My Head (Coots/Gillespie)" | 3:20 |
| 13. | "A Trumpet" | 4:46 |
| 14. | "An Orchestra" | 4:03 |
| 15. | "A Thought" | 4:52 |
| 16. | "Some Saxophones" | 3:13 |
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Total length:
|
1:03:15 | |
Same as September 15, 1952 but add Pete Candoli to trumpets.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Billboard Magazine Nov. 1, 1952 |
#9 sales for Capitol Records |
| Billboard Magazine Nov. 22, 1952 |
#6 sales for Capitol Records |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [16] |
| Allmusic | [17] |
The 16 pieces arranged by Bob Graettinger which make up this CD number among the most exacting works Kenton was ever responsible for. Graettinger's two major pieces, City of Glass and This Modern World are extraordinary works...
Note: There are many reviews in books written about jazz and classical music in the past 10–15 years which unanimously place City of Glass as a breakthrough and milestone in American music (far more than we have room for).