"With the forthcoming 100th birthday of Stan this December, I felt the time was ripe for a look at his life and career. I truly believe that there is a reappraisal happening currently regarding Stan Kenton and many people are finally acknowledging his tremendous contributions to jazz." -Jazzed Media founder Graham Carter
Stan Kenton has received a bad rap from music critics. The late Wichita, KS bandleader who brought the jazz in big bands throughout the 1930s-1970s was often slammed for going too far with his musical mixes, not going far enough, and just generally coming off as a wannabe.
Not anymore, not if Jazzed Media’s Graham Carter has anything to say about it. He produced a new bio-pic – Stan Kenton: Artistry in Rhythm | Portrait of a Jazz Legend – to set the record straight, and more importantly, focus on what mattered to the man and the legions of fans he won along the way. This nearly two-hour documentary, set for an official April 12th release, was made with love, care and immense respect from a multi-Grammy-nominated record producer who is also a great, big jazz fan.
Whether Stan Kenton led his Innovations Orchestra through some crazy but genius classical-jazz big band fusion, or gave rising musical stars like Maynard Ferguson, Bud Shank, and so many others their own big breaks, the man did it with innovative style, and a fearlessness and humanity not found in many jazz circles. Producer/director Carter knew it, recognized it, and has set about documenting it through countless interviews with those Kenton has helped mentor and give voice to, rare performance footage of his orchestra, and really rare archived imagery.
It has been Carter’s pleasure to right the wrongs of those fail-safe critics and show the public who Stan Kenton really was: a jazz artist of the highest caliber.
What got you interested in doing a documentary on the life of big band leader Stan Kenton, was it your award-winning Bud Shank film, "Against the Tide?"
No, actually I have been a fan of Stan Kenton since I was a teenager. Back in the early ‘70s, I had a friend who was in the jazz band at my high school and he played Stan Kenton albums for me, among others, including Woody Herman and Maynard Ferguson, and I was blown away by the sounds of the trumpets/trombones/saxophones and the ensemble playing of the big band. I also think that Stan Kenton in particular has gotten a "bum rap" from the jazz press over the years, and to this day he tends to be dismissed as either "ponderous" or simply not hip. I don't think either criticism is fair as all of Stan's bands over the years did swing to some degree or another, but in a different manner from the more conventional sounds of Basie or Herman. With the forthcoming 100th birthday of Stan this December, I felt the time was ripe for a look at his life and career. I truly believe that there is a reappraisal happening currently regarding Stan Kenton and many people are finally acknowledging his tremendous contributions to jazz.
On a deeper level, what got you interested in making jazz documentaries and forming Jazzed Media in the first place?
Having been a huge jazz fan since the early ‘70s, I finally had the opportunity to start my own media company about 10 years ago, as I felt that I could make jazz recordings of those jazz artists that the large labels were ignoring (Phil Woods, Bill Holman, Bud Shank, etc.) and I also wanted to get into documentary film production. Two of my Bill Holman Band CDs that I produced were nominated for Grammys, so I must be doing something right! I named the company Jazzed Media, and not "Jazzed Records," for example, so I could venture beyond recordings and into film. To date, I have released over 55 CDs and DVDs.
What were you trying to convey in your Stan Kenton documentary, "Artistry in Rhythm?" And, did you feel you succeeded?
I thought it was important to show the overall humanity of Stan Kenton in terms of how he felt about the people who went through his band over an almost 40-year period. He genuinely cared for the men and women who worked on his band, and they generally felt the same way about him. It is rare to find a musician who worked for Stan who did not have great respect for him. I also wanted to show the tremendous contribution that Kenton made to the development of modern big band jazz, including his early attempts at combining Afro-Cuban elements with jazz, and his integration of classical elements with jazz. Finally, I wanted to provide recognition of Stan's efforts in developing jazz education, which I think may be his greatest legacy. Hopefully I succeeded in conveying those elements in an entertaining, yet informative, manner.
There has been an awful lot of good and bad voiced about Stan Kenton's work. He's been criticized as producing pablum instead of innovative jazz fusions, but he's also elevated the big band form as a musical entity all its own, while bringing the world to the U.S. interpretation (what with Afro-Cuban influences).
Again, I think the criticism of Kenton, mostly from the East Coast critics, is unfair and really unwarranted. Remember, he was at the forefront of making those strides in big band jazz at a time when many other bands were focusing on dance music, with a little jazz thrown in. Stan moved jazz from the dance halls to the concert halls during a time when many big bands were folding after the war. His Innovations Orchestra in particular took great risks and it cost Stan a bundle of money. But again, he was a committed artist driving for a new sound and direction. Another legacy that can't be overlooked are the hundreds of musicians who passed through the band, and those who became famous— Maynard Ferguson, June Christy, Bud Shank, Lee Konitz, right up to people today like Peter Erskine.
What did you find fascinating about the man when you were covering him for the documentary?
I found his relentless drive to try new things most fascinating. It would have been easy for him to rest on his laurels and become a more nostalgia-driven bandleader, but Stan kept searching for new sounds throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, at a time when the big band business was really drying up. I mean he even embraced rock sounds in the ‘70s and that allowed many young people, including myself at the time, to hear what a big band jazz group could do, and this has resulted in jazz surviving to this day.
Did you try to portray him with all his flaws, or do mostly a favorable piece?
No, I tried to present him as honestly as possible, keeping in mind that he has been dead for over 30 years, having passed away in 1979. The only area I felt was negative about Stan and one I briefly touched on in the film was his drinking, which of course, many musicians did at the time to relieve the boredom of being on a band bus for months on end. It did seem to become more of a problem for him in his final years, and I believe helped bring an early demise. I mean he died at age 67, so something must have gone wrong and I believe it was the alcohol that finally did him in. Very sad, but not something I like to focus on. But as a filmmaker, I felt it needed to be addressed to some degree.
What moments as a filmmaker are you particularly proud of, and why?
When a viewer of the film or even fan of the subject (artist) tells me that the film touched them in some way, I feel vindicated in my work. When I premiered my Bud Shank film, I had his nephew approach me at the premiere and mention that he learned things about Bud that he never got from talking with him [in] all the years he knew him. I really liked hearing that!
In terms of the Stan Kenton film, I am very proud of the way I managed to convey the thoughts of those interviewed in a manner that keeps the film moving. Sometimes "talking head" documentary films can really bog down, but I think the way I integrated the interviews with the music segments of the film kept it moving. One reviewer commented on the fact that the almost-two-hour film seemed to go by quickly, so to me that shows I was successful.
Are there any plans to shop Stan Kenton's documentary in the film festival circuit?
I tried to shop the previous Phil Woods and Bud Shank films to no avail, and so far, the Kenton film is also meeting with the same indifference. I think most film festival people are not prepared to sit for two hours and watch a film about some jazz guy who led a relatively straight life. My success with the film really comes from DVD sales, so I tend to focus on building that part of the business.
What draws you into making a documentary about a jazz musician, what is it that they have to accomplish that is worthy of a documentary?
I think it is that something extra— that drive and eventual accomplishment that gets my attention. My first three films on Phil Woods, Bud Shank, and Stan Kenton all contain that element of someone who is driven to succeed in an art form that is basically ignored by 97 percent of the general public, and seeing that spark continue over a lifetime career fascinates me. I mean, what keeps them in there swinging long after most people would have given up? How do they keep creating new music? How do they stay fresh and at some point do they have to reinvent themselves? Of course their tremendous artistry is the other element that attracts me to covering them in the first place. I have to appreciate their music and musicianship in the first place or I am simply not interested. How can you not be a fan of the music of Phil Woods, Bud Shank, or Stan Kenton to some degree?
What, or who's next as a muse?
I am currently in production on a documentary of my true jazz hero, Woody Herman, titled Woody Herman: Blue Flame—Portrait of a Jazz Legend. This film is truly personal for me as I feel that Woody has had the greatest affect on me and it is his life and legacy I most admire. And the Woody Herman Band is my favorite jazz band. I hope to have the film completed in early 2012. I am also in pre-production on my first non-jazz documentary, this one being on the historic buildings in Denver, Colorado and how they were torn down by the hundreds in the 1960s and 1970s in the name of urban renewal. The working title is Denver Lost. Of course, I continue to release CDs on my Jazzed Media label as well and I am looking at a potential new jazz documentary project to start in 2012.
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