Any Ellingtonians out there? I’m looking for a way in (hundreds of recordings, multiple eras, multiple band formats, etc) – the extent of my current knowledge is the Dan’s recording of East St. Louis Toodle-oo…..
I’m familiar with the usual suspects in 50s and 60s bebop and postbop (Monk, Miles’ quintets, Charlie Parker) but I’ve managed to bypass Duke Ellington completely.
Any help gratefully received…..
Frank Zappa on Duke Ellington – “In 1969, George Wein, impresario of the Newport Jazz Festival, decided it would be a tremendous idea to put the Mothers of Invention on a jazz tour of the East Coast. We wound up working in a package with Kirk, Duke Ellington and Gary Burton in Miami at the Jai Alai Fronton, and at another gig in South Carolina. The touring package did not carry its own PA – we had to use whatever speakers existed in each of the venues we were booked into. The hall in South Carolina was rigged with small jukebox speakers, set in a ring around the building. Useless, but there we were – we had to play the show. Before we went on, I saw Duke Ellington begging – pleading – for a ten-dollar advance. It was really depressing. After that show, I told the guys: ‘That’s it – we’re breaking the band up.’ We’d been together in one configuration or another for about five years at that point, and suddenly EVERYTHING looked utterly hopeless to me. If Duke Ellington had to beg some George Wein assistant backstage for ten bucks, what the fuck was I doing with a ten-piece band, trying to play rock and roll – or something that was almost rock and roll?” (FZ in “The Real Frank Zappa Book” (1989))
this is the sublime brilliant music the Duke was playing then
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idQw1FOPyo4
the weather report cover of “Rockin in Rhythm” is pretty damn good, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifxgLADF4rY
I quite fancy this as one of my funeral pieces, maybe the finale. (Steely Dan’s”Deacon Blue”, Zappa’s “Lather”, and maybe “Robert Wyatt’s “At last I am free” as the others, FWIW.)
Where to begin? The Ellington catalogue is a nightmare, having gone full petrol station over the past few decades.
The Ken Burns Jazz album is as good an introduction as any – it kicks off with ESLT, and you get original Harlem stuff as well as later stuff.
If you want to dig a little deeper, Ellington at Newport is essential, if you can tune out Father O’Connor droning on. Such Sweet Thunder – his suite on Shakespearean themes – is wonderful, as is Black, Brown and Beige, featuring Mahalia Jackson transcendent on Come Sunday. I’m very fond of some of the small group sessions, especially the ones with Coltrane, Billy Strayhorn and Johnny Hodges.
Apart from that, poke around on Spotify if that’s your thing – there are loads of playlists.
Forgot to add, I’m very fond of his soundtrack for Anatomy of a Murder. Here’s a taste:
Ooh, I might have to buy this….many thanks, @mikethep
Firstly you need the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival recordings, released as Ellington At Newport, and it has to be the 2CD Complete edition. The original LP was recorded in mono, and the recording was compromised due to some soloists playing into the microphones used by radio station Voice of America instead. The Complete edition syncs up the Columbia recordings with the Voice of America ones to produce proper stereo versions of most tracks, with the missing instruments restored.
The early material is a minefield as there’s far too many re-issues of them, put out on all kinds of odd labels due to copyright issues. As these will have been transferred from 78 the sound quality can vary wildly. Whatever, the Blanton-Webster era is a must, from the 18 month period when the band featured both bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor player Ben Webster. There’s a 3 CD set on RCA that covers this particular era. The other 78 compilation sets that I’ve heard that sound decent are the 4CD Masterpieces set on Proper, and the very cheap “The Real Duke Ellington” on Sony which you can often pick up in HMV for £3 or under.
As for the LP era, I’d recommend these studio albums from the full band:
And His Mother Called Him Bill – a 1967 album in tribute to the recently deceased Billy Strayhorn, Ellington’s long-time collaborater, featuring the wonderful Blood Count, Strayhorn’s final composition.
Such Sweet Thunder – a concept album on Shakespeare.
Black, Brown and Beige – an 1958 recording of a revised version of the suite of the same name, featuring Mahalia Jackson
There’s also many small group recordings, including an album with John Coltrane, and Money Jungle, a trio with Charles Mingus and Max Roach.
And there’s a lot, lot more…..
I agree with JQW.
Synchronicity! This morning “Ellington At Newport” came up on the car stereo – that device is currently playing all the albums on the resident memory card in alphabetical order.
Listening to it brought a certain moistness to my eyes. My father was a jazz fanatic for whom “The Duke” was the absolute boss. His devotion was such that he promoted a memorial concert in his honour – in Hull!
Despite having listened to huge quantities of the great man’s work as a child I’ve nothing to add to to the wisdom others have provided except that the really early stuff remastered from 78s is worth a go. At that time the band was really “hot”.
Separately – it occurred to me recently that one of my (younger) siblings may eventually become the last living UK citizen to have seen “The Duke” perform live in this country. As quite small children we were taken to a concert at the Hammersmith Odeon (I think) that must have been amongst the very last in this country.
I’m going to be no help and suggest just two songs.
In A Sentimental Mood (with John Coltrane) – a sublimely beautiful thing
Blue Pepper – fun as fuck.
I’m no expert on the Duke, but I’ve yet to hear something by him I have actively disliked, without ever having paid especial close attention…
@ganglesprocket – I can only agree…In a Sentimental Mood is, indeed, sublime…
I’d say spend a tiny amount on this box set and see how you go. Seventeen albums on ten CDs for £9.24 is a no-brainer, really. Minimal artwork and information and some CDs have two albums squeezed onto them.
Not all of these are classic Ellington but there’s certainly enough in here to either whet your appetite or make you glad that you didn’t pay more.
Newport 1958, Black Brown & Beige, Such Sweet Thunder, Side By Side With Johnny Hodges and Ellington Uptown are here, so -I- certainly think you’ll be getting your money’s worth.
Could find yourself on a slippery slope..
I wouldn’t recommend that set, as the sound quality of some of the albums is appalling, having been dubbed from scratched LPs, with one LP transfer seemingly coming from low-bit rate MP3 transfers of a really badly scratched LP.
That’s the problem with some “bargain” box sets. You do have to watch your step.
On one Miles Davis box that I bought (20 albums on 10 discs), while the sound was good they left a few tracks off here and there to make them fit the sales concept. That was really annoying.
Proper always do a good job on their box sets, both with sound reproduction and presentation, but they’re at the top end of this sort of set’s price range.
I have quite a few of the “Enlightenment” jazz sets by various artists. Fairly cheap with minimal information and crap artwork, housed in those multi-disc jewel cases with a thin cardboard sleeve, but always with good sound reproduction and they give you enough information to look the original albums up on Discogs and fill in the blanks re: who plays what on what.
I have the 4CD Proper box set that JQW mentioned above and I think it’s great:
Ellington revisited some of his early stuff on Uptown, an album he made in the 50s. I think this is a very good place to start, and it has a fantastic version of The Mooche.
Naxos Jazz also has a series of albums that covers the years; you can follow the links here:
https://www.naxos.com/person/Duke_Ellington_1816/1816.htm
Proper box set purchased – many thanks, @JQW and @Hawkfall
I particularly love the albums he made with Louis Armstrong. You can buy both, plus the one he did with Oscar Peterson, and a disc of outtakes, for a fiver.
On order – many thanks @fentonsteve
All the above is good, and if you don’t mind mp3’s this is the ‘core’ Duke achievements and as good as jazz ever got over 5 CD’s worth. I have the CD version but seems to be out of print and only available for silly money.
My brother, a big Ellington fan, bought me And His Mother Called Him Bill last month, feeling it is his favourite of all. Is good. The back story about Strayhorn is pretty good.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Strayhorn
Can’t but feel it would be a better surname for a saxophonist, though.
For any pre 1960s/public domain stuff, My first point of call is archive.org.
It’s a great way of familiarising yourself, download a few mp3s, then buying better quality & remastered copies once you’ve found what era of a very long career you prefer.
A quick search found this:
https://archive.org/details/DukeEllington400Songs
Which should keep you going for a bit!
Have you seen the relevant episodes of Ken Burns’s Jazz series? There were some bostin single -artist compos done off that. I assume there was one for Duke.
A word for his album with Coltrane, probably his last great record, as well as JC saying a fond farewell to pop music before putting his spacesuit on and becoming the Dave Bowman of 60s jazz.
See above. 😉
Ellington / Coltrane on order – many thanks, @Moose-the-Mooche
Top man!
I’m no expert on jazz but this is wonderful – as is the whole album
This is equally, but differently, superb:
Agree with all of the above recommendations. I would just add the complete Far East Suite ( including the above Isfahan and Blue Pepper), The Popular Duke Ellington (re-recordings of classics in 1966 on RCA – sound is great and notes by Derek Jewell) and Concert In The Virgin Islands (some lovely Ray Nance violin).
Very many thanks to everyone who has replied – with so many variants on offer, it’s a minefield for the novice.
I shall read all responses, listen where appropriate- and pitch in.
Thanks again.
Make sure the soup kitchen in your area is open over Christmas before you start investing….
Another non-expert here. This is a favourite, though. Another train tune.
‘Happy-Go-Lucky Local’
This fuckin’ kicks. Turn it UP!
Two of my favourites not yet mentioned:
Meets Coleman Hawkins
Sacred Music
The latter could be one of his most controversial concert recordings. How could he profane religion with jazz?
Pretty much anything with Coleman Hawkins on it can be relied on to be good.