Best Jazz Albums: Duke Ellington

Best Jazz Albums: Duke Ellington

COMPLETE BRUNSWICK
Sixty-seven tracks in all, from “East St. Louis Toodle-o” and “Black And Tan Fantasy” to the Jungle Band to “Rockin’ In Rhythm” and “Creole Rhapsody.” With Bubber Miley, Tricky Sam Nanton, Sonny Greer, Cootie Williams, Johnny Hodges and others. 1926-1931

THE OKEH ELLINGTON
All 50 tunes recorded by Ellington’s orchestra under various monikers for Okeh between `27 and `30. These early masterpieces feature Bubber Miley, Cootie Williams, Tricky Sam Nanton, Otto Hardwicke, Johnny Hodges, Barney Bigard, Harry Carney and Sonny Greer. 

SOLOS, DUETS & TRIOS
Twenty-one pianistic treasures from Ellington on the Victor label, including the original 1940 duet session with Jimmy Blanton in its entirety, piano duets with Strayhorn (1945) and Earl Hines (1965) as well as solos and trios from 1932 to 1967.

BLANTON WEBSTER BAND
This is the great Ellington band that brought swing into the modern era. Includes Ben Webster, Jimmy Blanton, Cootie Williams, Rex Stewart and Johnny Hodges. This newly remastered and expanded 3-CD set includes 70 classic masters and 5 alternate takes.

CARNEGIE HALL 1943
This historic two hour and 15 minute concert featured the first recorded world premiere of Ellington’s first major extended work “Black, Brown & Beige”. Ben Webster makes his presence felt in his final year with the orchestra.

CARNEGIE HALL 1944
This 94 minute concert introduced “The Perfume Suite” which include “Dancers In Love”. The concert’s highlight was four segments from “Black, Brown And Beige”, including an eleven-minute “Come Sunday”.

CARNEGIE HALL 1946
This concert introduced “A Tonal Group”  (“Melloditti”, “Fugueaditty” and “Jam-a-Ditty”) and was the first revival of “Diminuendo In Blue” and “Crescendo In Blue”

CARNEGIE HALL 1947
This concert introduced “A Tonal Group”  (“Melloditti”, “Fugueaditty” and “Jam-a-Ditty”) and was the first revival of “Diminuendo In Blue” and “Crescendo In Blue”

MASTERPIECES BY ELLINGTON
This groundbreaking 1950 session celebrates the advent of tape with extended versions (up to 15 minutes) of four of Duke’s classics. These aren’t jam session performances, but modernized, extended arrangements with remarkable written backdrops for the soloists. Ellington chose three of his best known standards and “Tattooed Bride” for this early 12″ LP. Three rare gems from the period have been added to the original album.

Major Influences
Duke Ellington learned James P. Johnson’s famous stride piece Carolina Shout by slowing down a piano roll and observing which of the piano’s keys were depressed. When he came to New York in 1923, he was befriended and mentored by Willie “the Lion” Smith, among others. At the Club Kentucky in the fall of 1925, the club hired a second pianist for a brief spell: Thomas “Fats” Waller. A veteran of countless Harlem rent parties and piano cutting contests, Ellington was steeped in the stride piano tradition. He could also be a strikingly original modernist whether playing solo or backing the solos of others.

GREAT TIMES
The classic 1950 piano duets by Ellington and alter ego Billy Strayhorn, originally released on the Mercury label, with Oscar Pettiford and Jo Jones among the supporting cast. Includes “Tonk” and Pettiford’s “Oscalypso.” 

UPTOWN
This 1952 classic introduced Louie Bellson’s “Skin Deep” and “Tone Parallel To Harlem (Harlem Suite)”. It was released three times, each time with different contents. The CD includes “The Controversial Suite” and “The Liberian Suite” which appeared on the later albums. The extended, newly-arranged versions of “The Mooche” and “Take The A Train” with Betty Roche are masterpieces.

PIANO REFLECTIONS
All 15 of Ellington’s overlooked, exquisite trio recordings made for Capitol in 1953. From new pieces like “Janet” to lesser known pieces like “Dancers In Love” from the “Perfume Suite” to Ellington standards, this set is one of his most important pianistically.

ELLINGTON AT NEWPORT ’56
One of the most important discoveries in recorded jazz! For the first time the actual live concert is presented in its entirety (and it’s in stereo) plus studio performances that for over four decades served as what was known as Ellington At Newport. Newly found tapes by producer Phil Schaap provide us the opportunity to hear Paul Gonsalves’ classic solo on “Diminuendo and Crescendo In Blue” with new clarity. Ellington introduced his three-part “Newport Suite” at the concert (“Function Junction”/”Blues To Be There”/”Newport Up”).

ANATOMY OF MURDER
Ellington’s great soundtrack for this motion picture had been marred by reverb since its initial release. This new edition eliminates the reverb and brings to light newly found alternate takes, rehearsal takes and interview segments.

SUCH SWEET THUNDER
The works of Shakespeare are musically interpreted by Ellington in this new reissue with tracks previously unreleased or unavailable in the U.S. The entire album is offered for the first time in stereo.

BLACK, BROWN NEW 1958
The definitive reading of Duke’s extended work is offered here with more than half an hour’s worth of alternate takes. Highlights include Mahalia Jackson’s moving delivery of “Come Sunday” and the “23rd Psalm”.

“You can’t write music right unless you know how the man who’ll play it plays poker.” – Duke Ellington

JAZZ PARTY
This February 1959 studio session find Ellington and company in a relaxed, happy frame of mind, playing before an audience of invited guests. Jimmy Rushing, Dizzy Gillespie and Jimmy Jones sit in on “Hello Little Girl” and Dizzy is the main soloist on “U.M.M.G.” An eight-man percussion section is added on “Malletoba Spank” and “Tymperturbably Blue”. The band and soloists Johnny Hodges, Jimmy Hamilton, Russell Procope, Paul Gonsalves, Shorty Baker, Britt Woodman and Quentin Jackson are in great form.

ELLINGTON AT BLUE NOTE 1959
More than 2 hours of the band live in 1959 at Ellington’s favorite club, the Blue Note in Chicago. Only some 35 minutes had been previously issued on Roulette under Billy Strayhorn’s name. Includes some rarely performed Ellignton including “Duel Fuel with two drummers and tunes from “Anatomy Of A Murder”, plenty of Hodges features and even two piano duets by Ellington and Strayhorn: “Tonk” and “Drawing Room Blues.”.

BLUES IN ORBIT
This remarkable 1959 album features the Ellington band minus all the trumpets but Ray Nance, leaving the stellar reed section plenty of room to blow. There are a few warhorses, but most of the material was new Ellington and Strayhorn gems.

FESTIVAL SESSION
Cut in one day (September 8, 1959), this album debuts ambitious new works like “Duael Fuel” which features two drummers. The music reflects what Ellington played on the festival circuit that summer and revisits “Peridido” as a Clark Terry vehicle and “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be” featuring Johnny Hodges. The new versions of “V.I. P. Boogie” and “Jam With Sam” are previously unreleased tracks from the session. The band is in great form and the new music swings.

PIANO IN BACKGROUND
This neglected little gem in Duke’s vast discography was beautifully recorded in LA in 1960. Ellington is the primary soloist and, except for Billy Strayhorn’s “Midriff”, the repertoire is time-honored Ellington classics. But the arrangements are new (either commissioned from Bill Mathieu and Gerald Wilson or new charts that evolved over years of performances). The orchestra sounds revitalized and roars through this old wine in new bottles. Added to the original album are five bonus tracks from the sessions issued briefly in France, including Billy Strayhorn’s “Dreamy Sort Of Thing” and Gerald Wilson’s “The Wailer”. Don’t miss this one!

PIANO IN FOREGROUND
Duke Ellington, the underrated pianist, recorded this 1961 trio session in Los Angeles with Aaron Bell and Sam Woodyard. He plays three standards and introduces eight new compositions. A version of Billy Strayhorn’s “Lotus Blossom” from the session along with two takes of “All The Things You Are” and four piano trio improvisations from 1957 with Jimmy Woode and Woodyard have been added to the CD reissue.

MONEY JUNGLE
The unlikely trio of Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach produced this 1962 classic. The originals range from vintage tunes like “Solitude” to new masterpieces like “Wig Wise.” 

ELLINGTON MEETS COLEMAN HAWKINS
This 1962 encounter was the first recorded meeting of these two historic figures. Ellingtonians Ray Nance, Lawrence Brown, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Aaron Bell and Sam Woodyard complete the group, which is beautifully recorded by Rudy Van Gelder. These two giants connect on a deep musical level and the results are everything you’d imagine.

FAR EAST SUITE
Ellington and Strayhorn wrote these nine pieces after an extensive 1963 tour of the Far East. They began performing some of the titles in `64. The session, done in 1966, added such classics as “Isfahan” and “Ad Lib On Nippon” to the Ellington canon. 

AFRO BOSSA
This January 1963 masterpiece is one of Ellington’s most unified concept albums. Drawing on new material and obscure, older pieces from the thirties and forties, he and Billy Strayhorn fashioned a suite that feature a variety of Afro-Cuban rhythms. One of the pieces introduced here, “Purple Gazelle” (aka “Angelica”), quickly became an Ellington standard.

SYMPHONIC
This 1963 album, recorded with a variety of European symphony orchestra added to the Ellington band, was Duke’s first opportunity to record the full score of “Harlem” (aka “A Tone Parallel To Harlem”), which was commissioned in 1951 by the NBC Symphony under Toscanini. The three-part “Night Creature” was a 1955 commission, that was performed on a number of occasions but remained unrecorded until this album. An important and neglected aspect of Ellington’s vast canon.

VIRGIN ISLANDS
This is actually a studio album that represents what the Ellington band might play in an actual concert – a blend of new and old material. It is a perfect snapshot of the band in 1965. Highlights include “Virgin Island Suite” (the first four tracks on the album), “Big Fat Alice’s Blues” featuring Johnny Hodges and Paul Gonsalves’s reading of “Chelsea Bridge.”

RECOLLECTIONS BIG BAND
These 23 themes from classic swing bands, released on two LPs (“Will The Big Bands Ever Come Back” and “Recollections Of The Big Band Era”) were recorded in 1962-63. Strayhorn and Ellington put an inventive, creative Ducal spin on these big band anthems. Soloists include Johnny Hodges, Jimmy Hamilton, Paul Gonsalves and Cootie Williams. A fascinating and rewarding project.

INTIMACY OF BLUES
Half of the disc features a wonderful 1967 octet with Cat Anderson, Lawrence Brown, Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Harry Carney, Ellington, John Lamb and Rufus Jones performing Strayhorn’s title tune and 5 marvelous Ellington pieces that comprise “The Combo Suite.”  The balance of these small group sides were recorded in 1970 and range from new pieces like “Noon Mooning,” “Rockochet” and “Tippy-toeing Through The Jungle Garden” to classics like “All Too Soon.”  Gonsalves and Lawrence Brown and the principal soloists and Ellington experiments with various combinations, sometimes using two bassists or adding Wild Bill Davis on organ.

ELLA FITZGERALD & ELLINGTON AT COTE D’AZURE
These July 26-29, 1966 concerts find Ella’s voice and Duke’s orchestra with guest visits from Ben Webster and Ray Nance on 5 numbers. The 7 concert CDs contain 67 tracks by the orchestra, 19 by Ella with the orchestra and 10 by Ella with her trio never sounding better and more relaxed. The eighth disc is a fascinating open rehearsal by Ellington of several of the pieces debuted here. The Ellington material ranges from early staples to pieces from “Such Sweet Thunder” to new originals. “Not only did 80% of the completed performances remain on the shelf for over 30 years, but most of it is superior to what was originally released.” – Jack Sohmer, Jazztimes

LATIN AMERICA SUITE
Inspired by a South American tour, Ellington wrote this suite in 1968 to celebrate the variety of musical colors and rhythms on that continent.  Paul Gonsalves is the primary soloist.

70th BIRTHDAY CONCERT
Originally a double album, this 1969 British concert captures the band in great form on one of Johnny Hodges’s last recorded performances. Spurred on by an incredibly enthusiastic audience, the band stretches out on many classic Ellington compositions and introduces such new pieces as “In Triplicate”, “Fifi” and “B.P.”.

1969 ALL STAR TRIBUTE
Clark Terry, J. J. Johnson, Paul Desmond, Gerry Mulligan, Jin Hall, Hank Jones, Earl Hines, Dave Brubeck and Louis Bellson are among the all-stars who celebrate Ellington’s vast canon on the occasion of his 70th birthday celebration at the White House. The evening closes with a piano solo by the maestro himself.

NEW ORLEANS SUITE
Ellington recorded these nine fascinating, new pieces in 1970. Johnny Hodges, who died between the first and second sessions, is heard in his final recording.

THIS FOR BLANTON
Ellington and Brown swing beautifully on this 1972 session which pays tribute to Ellington’s groundbreaking duets with Jimmy Blanton some 30 years earlier. The program consists of four Ellington tunes, an inventive take on the  classic blues “See See Rider” and a co-composed four-part suite.

DUKE’S BIG FOUR
This January 1973 recording was Duke’s last small group session and it ranks among his most exciting. The other members of the group are Joe Pass, Ray Brown and Louie Bellson.