City of Glass: Stan Kenton Plays Bob Graettinger

by Stan Kenton

City of Glass: Stan Kenton Plays Bob Graettinger cover art
  • Type: Compilation
  • Released: 1995
  • Label: Capitol
  • Country: United States
  • Length: 46:03
  • Community rating: 3.93/5 from 4 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

This CD compilation collects the astonishingly complex and controversial early-1950s studio recordings between bandleader Stan Kenton and avant-garde composer Bob Graettinger. 'City of Glass' utilized a massive orchestra to perform fiercely dissonant, nearly atonal jazz that completely abandoned traditional swing mechanics in favor of European modern classical theory. The recordings remain some of the most polarizing, intellectually rigorous, and conceptually terrifying big band music ever committed to tape.

Genres

Descriptors: Modern, dissonant, avant-garde, complex, orchestral, atonal, instrumental

Tracklist

  1. Thermopylae (2:53)
  2. Everything Happens To Me (2:59)
  3. Incident In Jazz (3:26)
  4. House Of Strings (4:14)
  5. A Horn (4:04)
  6. Modern Opus (3:14)
  7. A Cello (4:59)
  8. You Go To My Head (3:20)
  9. A Trumpet (4:46)
  10. An Orchestra (4:03)
  11. A Thought (4:52)
  12. Some Saxophones (3:13)

Credits

  • Stan Kenton - primary artist, conductor, piano
  • Bob Graettinger - primary artist, arranged by, composed by
  • Art Pepper - alto saxophone, clarinet
  • Dick Meldonian - alto saxophone, clarinet
  • Herb Geller - alto saxophone
  • Lee Konitz - alto saxophone
  • Lennie Niehaus - alto saxophone, oboe
  • Vinnie Dean - alto saxophone

More from Stan Kenton: full discography