Featuring various Duke Ellington Orchestras between 1927 & 1973.
|
1
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Take
the ‘A’ Train 1966
|
10
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Dusk
1940
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|
2
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Creole
Love Call 1927
|
11
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Me and
You 1940
|
|
3
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The
Mooche 1928
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12
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Transblucency
1946
|
|
4
|
Shout
‘Em Aunt Tillie 1930
|
13
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Tonk
1946
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|
5
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Creole
Rhapsody Part 1 - 1931
|
14
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Caravan
1952
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|
6
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Creole
Rhapsody Part 2 - 1931
|
15
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Depk
1966
|
|
7
|
Rude
Interlude 1933
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16
|
The
Majesty of God 1973
|
|
8
|
Rumpus
In Richmond 1940
|
17
|
Medley:-
East
St. Louis Toodle-O, Lot o’ Fingers, Black & Tan Fantasy
1932
|
|
9
|
Concerto
for Cootie 1940
|
With
the wealth of recorded Ellington material available it is inevitable
that compilations such as this will be issued on a regular basis.
Here we have a random selection covering nearly fifty years. The earlier
tracks made at a time when the band was resident at the Cotton Club
in Harlem are some of Ellington’s best. But his most popular tunes
- now established jazz standards, such as ‘Take the ‘A’ Train’
and ‘Caravan,’ come from a later period. Also, now in the public
domain they crop up everywhere – no more so than as ‘muzak.’ Sadly,
many people know the tunes but have no idea they were composed by
Ellington or in collaboration with others. Many of his successes began
life as ‘head arrangements’ and as a bandleader he made a gigantic
contribution to American popular music of the twentieth century.
Tracks
2,3,4& 17 show the influence Armstrong and other pioneers of jazz
had on Ellington’s composition and arrangements - the same applies
to the musicians he employed. On ‘Creole Love Call’ Bubber
Miley’s solo shows how much he was influenced by Joe ‘King’ Oliver
and Johnny Hodges’ work on ‘The Mooche’ brings out the Bechet
influence – a man he greatly admired and by whom he was at one time
taught. The ‘Medley’ is a synopsis of how elevated Ellington
and his sidemen were whether it be Cootie Williams’ earthy growlin’
trumpet solo on ‘East St. Louis..’ or the leader’s virtuoso
performance on ‘Lot o’ Fingers.’ As for ‘Black and Tan’
it became one of Ellington’s legendary masterpieces both in arrangement
and performance. ‘Tonk’ is a lively and at times humourous
duet written and performed by Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.
So,
it is not surprising that many of his sidemen stayed with Ellington
for such long periods – his scores were specially written around their
particular styles and capabilities. By the time the later tracks were
made several of the ‘old faces’ were still in situ but styles of playing
had changed, often significantly, to augment Duke’s progressive writing
and arranging. Other arrangers were also providing material for the
band none more successfully than Billy Strayhorn. ‘Rumpus in Richmond’
shows a distinct change in the music – to a typical swing band style.
The saxophone section work is more harmonic, Bigard’s tone is not
so ‘woody’ and Lawrence Brown sails through his solo. Overall there
are more dynamics in evidence. ‘Transbluency’ an Ellington/
Lawrence Brown original featuring Kay Davis is another example of
musical diversification. Other vocalists on this disc are Adelaide
Hall, Louis Bacon and Ivie Anderson.
The ‘Majesty
of God’ is taken from Duke’s Third Sacred Concert and according
to Loren Schoenberg ‘goes beyond the limitations of liturgical genre.’
However I feel this one track is insufficient to get any idea of the
complexity of Ellington’s ‘sacred music.’ The 1952 version of ‘Caravan’
features Juan Tizol – trombone, Jimmy Hamilton – clarinet and a violin
solo by the inimitable Ray Nance. ‘Depk’ taken from Ellington’s
‘Far East Suite’ and from a period when Ellington also composed his
classic suite ‘Such Sweet Thunder.’ This particular orchestra was
in my opinion one of his greatest.
Jack Ashby
CD Reviews
090266 39972
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