Word: kenton
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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When it comes to music, U.S. college kids know what they like. In Billboard's ninth annual college poll, out last week, they still preferred sweet to swing, had the same favorite girl singers (Jo Stafford, Dinah Shore, Peggy Lee) and liked the same swing band (Stan Kenton's) as last year. Tommy Dorsey's sweet band was no longer tops (actually he had disbanded it. but it was voted second best anyway). The new favorite: Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Among male singers, Bing Crosby lost first place to Frank Sinatra for the first...
...Kenton is a gladhander who seeks out local disc jockeys when he hits a new town, is up early in the morning to be accommodating to autograph seekers. Said he: "We can't lay any more eggs. Now we play a pulsating melodic throb. People's ears today are in tune to great harmonic things. Our music has to be built into institutional proportions. The band has to become a household word...
...More Eggs. Kenton organized his band five years ago in Hollywood, and rode along in the brassy wakes of Woody Herman and Lionel Hampton. Said he: "We created a lot of nervous energy but it wasn't what people felt. I decided to change our style...
...Kenton's bandsmen began making more noise than any except perhaps Herman's. Kenton arrangements included trumpet and saxophone battles, with each section standing up to play its inning. Kenton beat out grandiose piano phrases against an elaborately embroidered bass. He called it "artistry in rhythm...
Metronome's prize girl singer of the year is June Christy, 21, a onetime amateur-night winner from Decatur, Ill. She got more votes than Dinah Shore or Jo Stafford. June sings with Stan Kenton's band in the same husky moan as her Kenton predecessor, Anita O'Day. Says she: "I've been hoarse ever since I can remember and Anita has too. Anita has bad breath control and so do I. It makes both of us sing a little flat...