This would be the last set of Kenton bandsmen that were closer to him in age and respectability as "jazz stars." Sam Donahue appears as a soloist, arranger, and section player having established himself on earlier Artie Shaw and Woody Herman recordings; Donahue had a couple of successful recordings with Capitol himself. By December 1961 Kenton had turned 50, many of his contemporaries from earlier Kenton groups had established their own careers and moved on. On Adventures in Jazz the Kenton band plays at a mature, musical level due to the set of older players with much more diverse backgrounds than later personnel on the bands. The very talented younger players just out of school such as Dee Barton, Marvin Stamm, and Dwight Carver were able to be trained by veteran players such as Bob Fitzpatrick and Gene Roland. This was not necessarily the case in the late 1960s and 1970s Kenton bands having to rely heavily on schools such as University of North Texas, Berklee School of Music, and Eastman School of Music. Those schools could provide young, adept jazz players who could travel but unfortunately were far fewer experienced in professional musical settings. The artistic success of Adventures In Jazz is a testament to a combination of Kenton's perseverance, timing, individual musicians, and talented composer/arrangers who were a part of those recording sessions.
