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''Stan Kenton Plays Chicago'' is a studio album by American jazz musician Stan Kenton and his orchestra, released on August 17, 1974, by Creative World Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in Chicago on June 4, 5, 6, 1974. The sessions are entirely based on the music of modern rock n' roll groups, in contrast to Kenton's earlier work which primarily featured swing with some progressive jazz leanings. The album's influence on future large ensemble jazz composition and arranging has led more recent critiques to acknowledge it as the most influential album of the later Kenton orchestras and of the 1970s. The album is a class production, and musically the most successful of all the attempts to interpret the Kenton style in contemporary terms.〔Sparke, Michael; Venudor, Peter (1998). "Stan Kenton, The Studio Sessons". Balboa Books. p. 212 ISBN 0-936653-82-5.〕 ==Background== Up to the time of ''Stan Kenton Plays Chicago'' the band had primarily made recordings of music that were swing oriented with progressive leanings. The 1969 Capitol release of ''Stan Kenton: the music of 'HAIR'''〔Sparke, Michael; Venudor, Peter (1998). "Stan Kenton, The Studio Sessons". Balboa Books. p. 192 ISBN 0-936653-82-5.〕 was the only other time Stan Kenton had an entire LP move beyond a style and genre which the Kenton 'brand name' had been built on since 1943. He had no involvement in the ''Hair'' LP except for Kenton's name placed on the jacket cover; Ralph Carmichael and Lennie Niehaus were placed in charge of the project. Capitol producer Lee Gillette was trying to exploit the money making possibilities of the popular 1968 musical featuring contemporary rock music.〔Sparke, Michael; Venudor, Peter (1998). "Stan Kenton, The Studio Sessions". Balboa Books. p. 192-193 ISBN 0-936653-82-5.〕 Due to lack of promotion by Capitol, the LP was a financial failure; this would be the last release for Kenton under he aegis of Capitol.〔Sparke, Michael; Venudor, Peter (1998). "Stan Kenton, The Studio Sessions". Balboa Books. p. 193 ISBN 0-936653-82-5.〕 The transition from Capitol to Creative World Records in 1970 was fraught with difficulties during a time when the music business was changing rapidly. As a viable jazz artist who was trying to keep a loyal but dwindling following, Kenton turned to arrangers such as Hank Levy and Bob Curnow to write material that appealed to a younger audience.〔Sparke, Michael; Venudor, Peter (1998). "Stan Kenton, The Studio Sessons". Balboa Books. p. 195 ISBN 0-936653-82-5.〕 The first releases for the Creative World label were live concerts and Kenton had the control he wanted over content but lacked substantial resources to engineer, mix, and promote what Capitol underwrote in the past. Kenton would take a big gamble to bypass the current record industry and rely far more on the direct mail lists of jazz fans which the newly formed Creative World label would need to sell records.〔Lee, William F. (1980) "Stan Kenton: Artistry in Rhythm". Creative Press, Los Angeles. pp. 365 ISBN 089745-993-8〕 In June 1973 Curnow had started as the new artists and repertoire manager overseeing the whole operation of the Creative World Records.〔Lee, William F. (1980) "Stan Kenton: Artistry in Rhythm". Creative Press, Los Angeles. pp. 374 ISBN 089745-993-8〕 It was just the year before (in 1972) the Kenton orchestra recorded the ''National Anthems of the World'' double LP with 40 arrangements all done by Curnow.〔Easton, Carol. (1973) "Straight Ahead: The Story of Stan Kenton". William Morrow & Co. Inc., New York. pp. 247 ISBN 0-688-00196-3〕 As per Curnow himself, "That was a remarkable and very difficult time for me. I was managing (Stan's) record company with NO experience in business, writing music like mad, living in a new place and culture (Los Angeles was another world), traveling a LOT (out with the band at least 1 week a month) and trying to keep it together at home."〔Email interview with Bob Curnow, February 16, 2013 with Dr. Jack Cooper, Assoc. Prof. of Music, the Univ. of Memphis〕 "The music (from the Chicago LP) represented something different for Stan's image," said Curnow. "We had just done ''7.5 On the Richter Scale'' with some pretty wild things on there, including my chart of Paul McCartney's ''Live and Let Die''. It was a very successful album, so we decided to follow it up with the music of Chicago."〔Harris, Steven. (2000) "The Kenton Kronicles". Dynaflow Publications. pp. 268〕 With the success of ''7.5 On the Richter Scale'' and the waters tested with more contemporary material on more than half the LP, a path had been paved to create a recording that was entirely centered on a contemporary rock band. The ''Stan Kenton Plays Chicago'' album was conceived, arranged, conducted, mixed and sequenced by Robert Curnow. He designed the LP cover, created the layout, chose the pictures and wrote some of the liner notes (Long time Kenton assistant Audree Coke did most of the writing for the liner notes on the jacket). It was first supposed to be a tribute album to Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears, at the last minute before the recording dates Kenton changed the idea on what the album would be; he wanted original material included. On very short notice Curnow re-wrote/arranged ''First Child'' and composed ''The Rise & Fall of a Short Fugue'' (Kenton came up came up with the title for the later during the recording of the LP). The band itself had very little time to prepare the music for the sessions, but that was the norm for many recording sessions done by a road band such as the Kenton orchestra.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Stan Kenton Plays Chicago」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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