Swinging Christmas Songs for Big Band

As performed by the Stan Kenton Orchestra, here is one of the hippest charts from the Kenton book. It was a favorite with the band and audiences alik, and it swings like crazy. There is a nice, long t...

When Bill Holman writes a feature for a player, especially in the Kenton Band, you know it will be wonderful. He wrote this one to feature the amazing trombonist Carl Fontana. Sierra Music dedicates t...

Finally, the up-to-date version that the Kenton Band played right up until the end. This chart has all of the solo space and all of the background figures and lines, and it differs from the 1947 versi...

As recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra on 'Adventures In Standards', this is a medium, swing chart on a great tune. Lennie uses a very clever countermelody throughout the arrangement. There is solo...

This was recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra on Stage Door Swings, and it is one of Lennie's wonderful charts on a great Broadway standard tune. It has very reasonable ranges for all. This shifts be...

This was recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra on Back To Balboa, and it is a highly original, exciting chart (latin/swing) on a great standard tune. Johnny Richards wrote for Kenton as well as anyone...

As recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra on Adventures In Standards CD, this is a wonderful, swinging chart on a great tune. As usual, Lennie does a great job arranging it, with terrific section work...

Here is another terrific chart as recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra on Adventures In Standards. Lennie sets the chart at a very fast, swinging pace, using countermelodies, a 6-horn group in places...

Stan Kenton had a certain touch in his arranging that stood out. He took a simple, slow-swinging approach to this great Neal Hefti tune, and it was one of the most popular charts played by the band in...

As recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra on 'Stage Door Swings', this medium-up swing chart comes roaring out of the chute with a brass 'pop' and leads into the piano stating the melody. There is addi...

There are a few charts from this library which are very playable by any reasonably well developed jazz ensemble. This surely is one of the best! Holman created a beautifully layered piece, based on th...

This is one of Holman's best loved (and most often played) charts. Written for the Showcase album, it is a light, well-paced blues, featuring bass, tenor, trumpet and alto. Holman's well known linear...

Recorded in 1953 on the Kenton Showcase album (This music is available from Mosaic Records in their Russo/Holman CD set.), this is a medium tempo swing chart which was (and still is) very different an...

Bill Holman, well known for his solo features, originally arranged this iconic tenor saxophone feature, 'Out of Nowhere,' for Bill Perkins and the Stan Kenton Orchestra in the mid '50s. Set as an up-t...

This chart has appeared on a couple of different albums over the years ('Kenton Classics' and 'Hits'). It is typical, swinging Rugolo as he was writing in the late '40's. Solos for trumpet, alto, bass...

Of all the pieces Hank wrote for the Stan Kenton Orchestra, this is arguably the best one. This is recorded on the University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band 2005 CD. It is a melodious work, set i...

What a dynamic chart this is! It is included on the CD recording 'The Jazz Compositions of Dee Barton' (1967). It opens with a dramatic, rubato ensemble at a slow tempo (while the bass and drums are s...

This is the original version of the tune recorded in 1946, and also included in the Milestones LP. This was transcribed by Bob Curnow for Gunther Schuller's Smithsonian Jazz Orchestra concerts. Tenor...

Holman wrote this to feature (of course) Zoot Sims on tenor saxophone. This is a feature throughout the chart and is a typical 'swinger' in the Holman style of the early 1950's. The only recording is...

This is one of those superb Holman charts written for Stan Kenton in the early '50's that just swings like crazy. It starts off very soft and easy, with clever linear writing. It then roars into an al...

Mulligan's writing for the Kenton Band was fairly minimal in quantity but extraordinary in quality. He had a profound effect on the band and the writers to follow him. This composition was recorded in...

Mulligan's writing for the Kenton Band was fairly minimal in quantity but extraordinary in quality. He had a profound effect on the band and the writers to follow him. This composition was recorded in...

This may be the all-time greatest jazz arrangement of a standard tune. Also from the Contemporary Concepts LP (1955). This great standard is turned into a marvelous vehicle for solo statements from al...

This may be the all-time greatest jazz arrangement of a standard tune. Recorded on the Contemporary Concepts LP, this great standard is turned into a marvelous vehicle for solo statements from alto, t...

Russo always created wonderfully interesting (and challenging) arrangements of standard tunes. He explores unusual instrumentation and exciting new harmonizations. Recorded on the Kenton Sketches on S...