"Thermopolae": Bob Graettinger's first recording with Kenton

Robert Graettinger's "Thermopolae" (from the City of Glass CD) is the first Graettinger work recorded by the Kenton Orchestra (December 1947); the title referring to the famous Battle of Thermopylae fought in 480 BC between the Greeks and Persians.^[4] Venudor's and Cox's comparison to Alexander Mosolov's Iron Foundry is not too far off^[5] but "Thermopolae" can better be compared to Italian Futurism music as well as larger more involved movements of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's suites of the time (George Antheil's music would be another). Graettinger's treatment of the sax section juxtaposed against the straight 8th note pulse with Weidler's muscular "Hodgesesque" lead alto playing places the work firmly in the camp of Ellington's "Jungle Music"; the influence of Benny Carter's playing and writing is clearly evident also.^[6]

Graettinger's intention is far closer to jazz than to the modernism of Russians or any classical music of the time; this makes it no less innovative but merely assigns the lineage to a more accurate place. Second alto saxophonist/clarinetist Art Pepper sums up the comparison to Ellington this way, "... Graettinger didn't just write for a band, or for sections; he wrote for each individual person, more or less as Ellington did. It was so difficult to play because you were independent of the guy next to you."^[7]

Graettinger's vocal arranging and June Christy

The arrangement of Matt Dennis's Everything Happens To Me (June Christy, vocal) was not done under Kenton's aegis but with Christy's later to be husband Bob Cooper as the leader just after the second AFM recording ban. This is added to the CD and shows the continuity of Graettinger's writing and recorded works for Capitol; the chart had originally been done for the full Kenton instrumentation but was never recorded. The small 11 piece group (to include violin and cello) provides some real insight to the inner workings of Graettinger's writing. The austere nature of his arrangement and use of pantonality (one might call it atonality in spots) makes one wonder how June Christy is able to pick off the 9th of the F minor chord at the top of the tune; there is basically no clue given by Graettinger as to what pitch is coming for the singer (the glue that holds this together is the Bb pedal point at the bottom). After first stating the entire tune there is a tutti ensemble section that gives way to the 'last 'A' of the form'.^[8] Also, his harmonic transitions between sections are key in their departure from the tune compared to the established harmony while June Christy sings.

Kenton's Innovation Orchestra and Graettinger's music

Of the works recorded by Capitol Records, "Incident in Jazz" is probably the most compositionally unified of Graettinger's and shows his full capabilities as an orchestral writer in progressive jazz or as a Third stream music composer (the work was originally entitled "Incident in Sound").^[9] This is part of the new "Innovations" orchestra that Stan Kenton had marshalled into the studio to record these groundbreaking sides. Kenton comments on the unprecedented conditions this orchestra operated under, "The Capitol people were with me all the way. There were tremendous sums of money involved in recording this orchestra and selling the music that was of such an unusual nature. I remember hour upon hour in the studio while we were recording, and there was no thought of how much it would cost: the thought was only to make the finest recordings that we knew how."^[10] The largesse of Capitol Records and Kenton himself would only last (roughly) six months until a more conventional, financially solvent Kenton 'dance' orchestra would be reformed to cut sides with the popular Capitol artist Nat King Cole. Graettinger's "House of Strings" (Aug 24, 1950) is recorded on a split session with popular Les Baxter sides; the Kenton 'Innovations Orchestra' as a regular touring and studio unit had come and gone quickly due to financial failure.^[11]

The work itself spurns a sense of symmetry and order that the other composers on the Innovations in Modern Music release adhere to. Graettinger's lack of sequential pattern and deliberative asymmetry is never frivolous due to the atonal orchestration. The work ends on a tranquil note like many other of his works. "Incident in Jazz" commented Holleck, "is modern music, heart deep."^[11]

City of Glass

After a year's hiatus from the recording of Graettinger's works, both producer Lee Gillette and Stan Kenton were able to cajole a reluctant Capitol Records management into assembling a 1951 version of the 'Innovations Orchestra' to record.^[12] The group's studio time on December 5 and 7 was entirely devoted to Graettinger's music; primarily the four movement City of Glass suite (add "A HORN" from This Modern World). This was the rewritten version of a composition first scored for Kenton's Progressive Jazz Orchestra in 1948. It was premiered, and received its sole performances, at the Civic Opera House in Chicago on April 20 and 21, 1948, with the composer conducting^[13] (the reception of the premiere by public was quite indifferent).^[14] Olivier Messiaen's "Mode de Valeurs et Dintensites" (1949) comes to mind with the first opening music of Graettinger's Entrance Into The City (in two parts). The 'jagged edges' (akin to Anton Webern) and use of free dissonance by each composer while (simultaneously) writing across the Atlantic from one another are notable. In essence, the same effect was being achieved with little to no knowledge of one another's work. The second movement (The Structures) is quite effective to the level of Incident in Jazz recorded almost two years before. Both are well balanced works successfully set in jazz 'grooves' juxtaposed to tonal dissonance like George Russell's groundbreaking 1949 "A Bird in Igor's Yard" (also recorded by Capitol during that time). The third and last movement is much more romantic in approach; almost to the point of imagining it being a set of opera scenes from Richard Strauss's Elektra or Alban Berg's Wozzeck (Graettinger was long a fan of opera and ballet).^[15] There is some notable lyrical playing by members of the Kenton orchestra in this final movement.

This Modern World

The remaining works on the CD primarily comprise the later released This Modern World. After City of Glass Stan Kenton would add in an odd Graettinger composition during recording sessions until there was enough to press a second 10-inch LP of new material. This Modern World is varied in scope but lacks greatly what would be real jazz sensibilities; the feature written for Maynard Ferguson entitled A Trumpet (Stan Kenton himself gave it that name) is the only exception on this recording.^[16]

Graettinger's trombone feature on the standard "You Go To My Head" is included here and was aimed at the first release of "New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm."^[17][18][19] Each piece stands on its own and do not really comprise a unified theme or 'set' of concert works. Some of the works ("A Thought", "Some Saxophones") were not even supervised in the recording process by Stan Kenton himself^[20] in that he was out on tour with the orchestra. This would be Graettinger's last tenure with the Stan Kenton recordings in the studio as composer, conductor, or supervisor. After this recording Graettinger's output dwindled and only one other piece is known of ("Suite for String Trio and Wind Quartet") and was still unfinished at the time of his death in 1957.^[16]

Graettinger's legacy and the Stan Kenton Orchestra

Bob Graettinger died an untimely death of lung cancer in 1957 at the age of 33; he lived a great deal of his personal life enigmatic and as a loner.^[21] By that time he was a forgotten figure and the only musical colleagues to attend his funeral were Stan Kenton and Pete Rugolo. Graettinger's life had been in constant turmoil. Bud Shank is quoted, "Most of us who knew [Bob] figured he died of a broken heart. He lived entirely in his own little world. He could never find anybody to understand him."^[22]

Graettinger is quoted, "I've never had a technique to execute my ideas. I work from the idea, and have acquainted myself with the physical laws of sound. I use a different technique for each idea." He elaborates further, "The way I hear music is a series of constantly changing tensions. What I hear isn't individual melodies or harmonies, but something more like abstract shapes in motion."^[15]

While audiences simply reacted with their feet to his music, a kind of romanticism grew up around Graettinger that had protected him from the criticism of his peers. His total lack of interest in material possessions leading to very primitive living conditions, his method of writing music colors to illustrate the different instruments (much like Duke Ellington), and his total dedication to his music above all else, ensured the admiration of other musicians.^[23]

There is never complete agreement about music as controversial as City of Glass, only a consensus on either side. Asked by English record aficionado Colin Goodall, trumpeter Buddy Childers was explicit: "Either you do have the intellectual capacity to appreciate the music, or it is bullshit,"... so Childers was asked his opinion, "It's bullshit." Stan Kenton adamantly defended Graettinger's music but later had his doubts. Stan Kenton, "Well, I tell ya, it was either the greatest music the band ever presented, or the biggest pile of crap we ever played, and I still do not know which."^[23]

Musicians

Production

• Producer: (1,3,4) Jim Conkling, (2) Bob Cooper, (5–16) Lee Gillette
• Re-issue producer (CD): Michael Cuscuna
• Digital transfers and mastering (CD): Malcolm Addey
• CD design: Patrick Roques and Lisa Cuscuna
• Liner notes: Max Harrison and Gunther Schuller