The Mike Vax Big Band Live!
(Master Communications Group MCG 7010/11) (VHS: NTSC and PAL)

Vol. 1 (MCG 7010): Somewhere/ A Little Minor Booze/ Nada Mas/ Vax Attacks/ It's a Wonderful World/ Maria/ Chelsea Bridge/ Don't Worry 'Bout Me/ Intermission Riff

Vol. 2 (MCG 7011): Peanut Vendor/ Stompin' at the Savoy/ If/ Circe/ 'Round Midnight/ There Will Never Be Another You/ Ramon Lopez/ I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues/ Ice Castles/ Samba da Gamba

In the seventeen years that have elapsed since the death of Stan Kenton, his musical style has been re-created in the USA on an occasional basis, usually by alumni of his various bands. The Kenton ensemble's appearances on film and video largely predated both color and high fidelity stereo audio on television. Therefore, this two-volume collection featuring an all-star Kenton alumni band fronted by ex-Kenton lead trumpeter and BBI member Mike Vax represents an important milestone for the Kenton sound on video as a Kenton based orchestra receives full state-of-the-art audio-cum-video exposure for the first time ever.

Recorded during the three-day Morningside College Jazz Festival at Sioux City, IA in February 1995, Live! presents a most distinguished roster of Kenton alumni from the Fifties (bass trombonist George Roberts, drummer Jerry McKenzie, lead trombonist Roy Wiegand), Sixties (baritone/ bass saxist Joel Kaye, bassist Jim Widner), and Seventies (lead altoist/ flutist Steve Wilkerson, tenorists Richard Torres and Roy Reynolds, baritone/ alto saxist Chuck Carter, Latin percussionist Ramon Lopez; trombonist/ singer Denny Brunk and bass trombonist Bill Hartman; and the entire trumpet section consisting of Vax, his successors in the lead chair Dennis Noday and John Harner, plus jazz soloists Jim Oatts and Steve Campos. Vocalist Andrea Baker (Mrs. Steve Wilkerson), trombonist John Allred, and pianist Don Haas are the only non-Kenton participants.

The repertoire runs the gamut from Kenton warhorses to compositions of more recent vintage presented in the Kenton style, all displaying the arranging and/or compositional talents of Johnny Richards (adapted by his pupil Joel Kaye), Willie Maiden, Bill Holman, Lennie Niehaus, Alan Yankee, Chico O'Farrill, Dave Barduhn, Tom Kubis, John Leubke, and of course Stan himself. Producer/director Bill Dean has interspersed remarks by the musicians among the more than two hours of music, and the color cinematography and hi-fi stereo audio are first-rate. Both volumes are mandatory additions to any definitive Kenton library, and "The Old Man" would unquestionably welcome them, despite his lifelong aversion to nostalgia.

Read a review of Mike Vax Big Band Live! from Jazz Times