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<DIV><SPAN class=620462716-17012003><FONT face="Arial Rounded MT Bold"
color=#008080><STRONG>I was Stan Kenton's PR rep for over a year when he was a
spokesperson for Craig Stereo Systems in the late 60's. Knew him well. I know he
was NOT a racist. Everything with him was one on one--like or dislike per
individual.</STRONG></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=620462716-17012003><STRONG><FONT face="Arial Rounded MT Bold"
color=#008080></FONT></STRONG></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=620462716-17012003><STRONG><FONT face="Arial Rounded MT Bold"
color=#008080>As an aside, I put Kenton in the same category as the French
Impressionists in that he was an artist who had a vision of something different
who followed through on what he saw as a new art form in the face of public
rejection of the different and unusual. It takes courage and flair to flaunt the
conventional and manifest something different in the world. One has to
hold fast to one's dream. He was a very courageous
man.</FONT></STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=620462716-17012003><STRONG><FONT face="Arial Rounded MT Bold"
color=#008080></FONT></STRONG></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=620462716-17012003><STRONG><FONT face="Arial Rounded MT Bold"
color=#008080>Burt Wilson</FONT></STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=620462716-17012003><STRONG><FONT face="Arial Rounded MT Bold"
color=#008080>Silver Dollar Jazz Band</FONT></STRONG></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
dixielandjazz-bounces@ml.islandnet.com
[mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces@ml.islandnet.com]<B>On Behalf Of
</B>JimDBB@aol.com<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, January 16, 2003 10:23
PM<BR><B>To:</B> dixielandjazz@ml.islandnet.com<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re:
[Dixielandjazz] Kenton & Feather<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><FONT
face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=3>In a message dated 1/16/03 11:43:04 PM
Central Standard Time, Paigevan@cs.com writes:<BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"
TYPE="CITE">As to Kenton, he appears to have been a racist. Gary Giddins
wrote a <BR>hilarious analysis of Kenton on Visions of Jazz which, among
other things <BR>indicates that Kenton favored George Wallace's presidential
candidacy and <BR>that Kenton's followers used to send out notices of his
appearances etc with <BR>the initials KKK (for Keep Kenton Kicking) as a
return address. </BLOCKQUOTE><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" face=Arial color=#000000 size=3
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"><BR> Appears to have been a racist?
Conjecture by Gary Giddins is not enough reason to print rumors like
this. I never heard anything of Kenton being a racist and I've known
guys who played with him. I seriously doubt the KKK thing and if it did
happen, Kenton had nothing to do with it. I"ve never heard of any jazz
fans or musicians anywhere doing something like that. <BR><BR>As has
been pointed out, Paige, Leonard Feather started the bogus race accusations
against Kenton.<BR><BR>Jim Beebe</FONT> </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>