This Modern World – Stan Kenton

Album: This Modern World

Artist: Stan Kenton

Year: 1953

Genre: Avant-Garde Jazz, Third Stream

Grade: A

A collection of holdovers from the City of Glass sessions with composer Robert Graettinger, This Modern World is Stan Kenton’s coldest and most emotionally distant album of his career. And that’s entirely the point: this is some of the most experimental jazz ever made. In fact, it’s so experimental that it questions the very definition of jazz. How many other swing-era bandleaders dabbled in 12-tone classical serialism? (The answer’s gotta be none, right?)

Every single song is a modernist marvel: “A Horn,” for example, doesn’t do what a horn normally would, while “Some Saxophones” can transform themselves into an entire symphony. As a listener, the main pleasure of This Modern World is hearing such unique sounds. There aren’t many other albums like this — an avant-garde avenue largely left unexplored.

Of Kenton’s collaborations with Graettinger, City of Glass is by far the more famous work, but I think I prefer This Modern World overall. It’s a more cohesive and consistent statement, a headlong dive into total abstraction. There’s a real sense of discovery here, which also equates to this somehow being one of Kenton’s warmest, most sincere records. Go figure.

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