Breaking Through

For years the American musicians' union has been able, in effect, to keep British bands from performing in the U.S., and the British Ministry of Labor has returned the disfavor. Under the circumstances, the only way English jazz lovers could hear live American jazz at home was to visit U.S. military bases. The drought was so severe that some fans set up special flying excursions to such unlikely jazz centers as Dublin and Brussels. But last week the curtain was lifted in Britain. Stan Kenton's 20-piece band played a concert in London's Albert Hall, where jampacked fans hungrily took in such Kenton specialties as Theme of Four Valves and 23DEG N= 82DEG W* Critical evaluation ranged from cool ("about 30% art, 70% commercial gloss") to enthusiastic ("at all times vital and alive"), and it seemed certain that Kenton would establish attendance records on his 35-concert tour of the British Isles. Under an agreement between the two unions, top British Bandleader Ted Heath will reciprocate with a tour of the U.S. next month.

There was jazz news in Manhattan last week, too. Rising young (25) Austrian Concert Pianist Friedrich Gulda (TIME, Jan. 31, 1955) arrived for a Carnegie Hall recital with recordings selected from a dozen of his Vienna broadcasts under his arm. Six of the programs were of Beethoven sonatas; the other six were of his own jazz combo playing his compositions and arrangements. U.S. jazz experts listened, found his tunes to be pretty as pops--fine fodder for jazz improvisations--and his arrangements forthright and thoroughly disciplined. They proclaimed Gulda's jazz some of the best they had ever heard. The upshot: Pianist Gulda was booked for a two-week engagement in June in Manhattan's jazz den, Birdland, and the Newport Jazz Festival (July 5-7).

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