Ellington, big band, and all that good stuff

I recently rediscovered a gem of a CD that I've owned a fair while but never really noticed before (if you know what I mean?) It's from the Verve Records Jazz Masters series, and it's a bunch of random live Duke Ellington tracks.

Well, the music is absolutely fantastic - really upbeat, energetic, exciting, spine-tingling stuff, and despite (or because of?) being from the 50s and early 60s, the recording quality on just about all the tracks is really, really good. I mean, there's quite a lot of background hiss, but it just doesn't detract from the music at all - dynamics, soundstage, resolution, "air", and sheer realism are just wonderful (so much better than a lot of modern stuff - even the better quality modern stuff).

Anyway, I was just looking for suggestions of where to go from here. Some of my favourite tracks from the disc include La Plus Belle Africaine (this is SUCH a great track - the tension and energy is just .... wow ....), Stompy Jones (great name for a great, energetic, lively, foot-tappin' track), and Total Jazz (terrible name for a brilliant track), though really I basically love all of it.

The complete tracklist is as follows (to give you an idea of the sort of music I'm looking for):

Take the "A" Train
La Plus Belle Africaine
Flirtibird
Diminuendo in Blue and Blow by Blow
Loveless Love
Going Up
St. Louis Blues
Stompy Jones
Caravan
Total Jazz
Perdido
Jam with Sam
Rockin' in Rhythm

I want more!

Dunc

 

The most famous Ellington big band live album is Live at Newport 1956, recently reissued in complete form on CD. The version of Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue on this contains one of the most famous sax solos in history, and will have you leaping around the room. It's a brilliant record.

If you really get into this stuff you must get the complete Blanton-Webster sessions on RCA. Earlier, and the recording quality is poorer as a result, but for most people this is Ellington's greatest period.

My favourite Ellington is very late, 1967, his elegy to Billy Strayhorn, ...and his mother called him Bill.

If you like the energy of Ellington but want to try something that stretches the big band form a bit, try some Sun Ra albums. There are hundreds to choose from. Ra started as an arranger for Fletcher Henderson (also well worth checking out), but had a very unique take on the universe. His Arkestra were the greatest big band of the modern era, with some seriously good players (John Gilmore pre-eminent). Imagine Ellington mixed with psychedelia and you get some idea. Live at Montreux is a good place to start, there's an excellent version of Take the A Train on it, amongst other things. The other good one to start with is Jazz in Silhouette, an early Ra album and much less challenging than some of his 60s material.

-- Ian

 

Check out Dr John: Duke Elegant.

 

'Atomic Basie'

Paulb