Blue Note Records
2007
Jazz Compositions Of Dee Barton
About This Album
In 2007 Michael Cuscuna produced a carefully remixed reissue of Stan Kenton's 1968 Capitol LP The Jazz Compositions of Dee Barton. Recorded on December 19 and 20, 1967, this album is devoted to the music of Dewells Barton, Jr., Kenton's trombonist and drummer (as well as composer and arranger) from 1961-1963 and from 1967-1969. Barton's featured album with Kenton is surprisingly substantial, with occasional edgy solos by trumpeter Jay Daversa and alto saxophonist Ray Reed, particularly on the aptly titled "Dilemma," a piece that transcends Kenton's carefully controlled mainstream modernity and reflects instead the prevailing winds of free jazz that were particularly dominant during the late 1960s and early '70s. Kenton himself liked this album a lot, and was particularly fond of what some may consider its weakest link, "The Singing Oyster," an upbeat waltz that reveals Barton's experience as a composer of nifty themes for television shows and jingles for commercials in Los Angeles during the '60s. This CD reissue will enable 21st century listeners to enjoy and in some cases re-evaluate an album that never received the critical or popular acclaim that it deserved. For all of the notoriety that this bandleader's mannered futurism earned throughout the years, his Dee Barton album is more in line with authentic modern jazz than many other entries in the Stan Kenton discography. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,5 and 7)

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