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Write a summary about stanley Newcomb Kenton was one of the innovators in the history of music.
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Stanley Newcomb Kenton was one of the innovators in the history of music. His bright and extraordinary ideas provoked a clash of opinions but never left anyone indifferent. Throughout his creative life, Kenton sought the development of orchestral jazz. He tried to find sources of progress in jazz music and possibly merge it with the European classical music that Kenton had been loving since childhood.
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Give me essay based on the summary above.
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#A Jazz Legend: Stan Kenton Essay
Stan Kenton was one of the innovators in the history of music. His bright and extraordinary ideas provoked a clash of opinions but never left anyone indifferent. Throughout his creative life, Kenton sought the development of orchestral jazz. He tried to find sources of progress in jazz music and possibly merge it with the European classical music that Kenton had been loving since childhood.
Future Jazz maestro Stanley Newcomb Kenton was born on December 15, 1911, in Wichita, Kansas. His mother, Stella, who received classical music education, noticed Stan’s particular interest in piano and gave him his first music lessons. Soon Stan joined the orchestra at a local school. He studied piano and learned the secrets of music theory and the fundamentals of composition. Stan especially loved the music of the Impressionists: Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, and Arnold Schoenberg. In 1933, Kenton got lucky – he was invited to a professional orchestra playing dance jazz. All this happened in the midst of the Swing Era, the era of big bands, which determined the creative passions of the young pianist.
On May 30, 1941, Stan had a debut with his own Orchestra. Although the sound of the orchestra faced controversy, especially among jazz critics, it survived the collapse of the Swing Era. In April 1947, Kenton announced putting a new band together and the period of his greatest success began. This time, he took the band to the stage under the banner of progressive jazz. In June 1948, Kenton fans completely filled the Carnegie Hall in New York City. His concert caused such a stir that about three hundred extra seats had to be arranged on the stage. Later he had a triumphal tour in Europe, however, after such success, Kenton inclined to educational activities. Unfortunately, he got seriously ill at the beginning of the 1970s, and on August 25, 1979, the outstanding musician died at the age of 67.
Kenton once said that his music could be divided into several categories, and every category was different in the mood, atmosphere, and texture. Kenton and his band were the first to give American big band performances in Europe during the postwar period. The creator of a number of experimental styles in orchestral jazz was oriented on the development of classical European music forms and convergence of modern academic music. He was recognized as one of the greatest jazz composers and reformers of the swing style. He developed the new sound in jazz, covering a range of means of expression – tone, rhythm, voice. He grouped instruments and various techniques, experimented with combinations, the ratio of solo improvisation. Moreover, Kenton introduced modern methods of sound organization in the techniques of counterpoint and sonata thematic development – up to atonal serialism. He experimented with Latin American rhythms, expressed interest in experimentation with Baroque music, classicism, and romanticism (the example is the recording of jazz interpretations of Wagner’s operas). He attempted to synthesize the style of jazz and rock music to vocal instrumentalization.
Summing everything up, Stan Kenton changed the idea that the Jazz Big Band was a simple musical accompaniment. He paved the way for it in the direction of symphonic music. He was the first to give jazz performances in concert halls and expanded the number of participants of the Big Band to unimaginable quantity – often no less than 40 musicians played at the same time. This person truly belongs to artists that enriched and changed musical heritage and history.