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| The Golden Years of Duke Ellington |
| Duke Ellington |
| első megjelenés éve: 2007 |
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| (2008)
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3 x CD |
| 3.500 Ft
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| 1. CD tartalma: |
| 1. | Mood Indigo
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| 2. | Perdido
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| 3. | Creole Rhapsody
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| 4. | It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
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| 5. | Exposition Swing
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| 6. | Show Boat Shuffle
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| 7. | Barney's Concerto (Clarinet Lament)
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| 8. | Solitude
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| 9. | Happy As The Day Is Long
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| 10. | In A Jam
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| 11. | Yearning For Love
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| 12. | Limehouse Blues
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| 13. | Double Check Stomp
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| 14. | Main Stem
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| 15. | I Ain't Got Nothin' But The Blues
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| 16. | Me And You
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| 17. | What Am I Here For?
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| 18. | Someone
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| 19. | Esquire Swank
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| 20. | Happy-Go-Lucky Local
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| 2. CD tartalma: |
| 1. | I Don't Mind
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| 2. | Suddenly It Jumped
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| 3. | Dancers In Love
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| 4. | New York City Blues
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| 5. | Air Conditioned Jungle
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| 6. | Times A-Wastin' (Things Ain't What They Used To Be)
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| 7. | Chelsea Bridge
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| 8. | Concerto For Cootie
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| 9. | Dusk
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| 10. | Harlem Air Shaft (Rumpus In Richmond)
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| 11. | Swing Low
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| 12. | Creole Love Call
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| 13. | Rose Room
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| 14. | Rockin' In Rhythm
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| 15. | Love Is Like A Cigarette
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| 16. | Uptown Downbeat
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| 17. | Cootie's Concerto (Echoes of Harlem)
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| 18. | Shoe Shine Boy
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| 19. | Trumpet In Spades
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| 20. | It Was A Sad Night In Harlem
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| 3. CD tartalma: |
| 1. | Black And Tan Fantasy
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| 2. | Stevedore Stomp
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| 3. | Hot And Bothered
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| 4. | East Of St. Louis Toodle-Oo
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| 5. | The Mooche
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| 6. | Old Man Blues
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| 7. | Jungle Nights In Harlem
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| 8. | Tiger Rag
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| 9. | Sweet Jazz Of Mine
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| 10. | Sing You Sinners
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| 11. | Jazz Cocktail
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| 12. | Ko-Ko
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| 13. | Jack The Bear
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| 14. | A Gathering In A Clearing
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| 15. | Hy'A, Sue
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| 16. | Stomp, Look & Listen!
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| 17. | On A Turquoise Cloud
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| 18. | The Clothed Woman
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| 19. | I'm Checkin' Out, Goo'mbye!
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| 20. | I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good
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Legendary composer and bandleader Edward 'Duke' Ellington was a musical colossus, a star from the 1920s until his passing in 1974 , and these 60 recordings are from his classic years of the 1930s and '40s.
Acknowledged as unquestionably one of the finest composers to have emerged from 20th Century America, Edward Kennedy 'Duke' Ellington (1899-1974) painted many memorable sound pictures during half a century of music-making. Yet, had things happened differently, the Washington-born bandleader could have been applying his talents to canvas rather than the keyboard.
He won a scholarship in fine arts to the local Pratt Institute but, as he recalled in his autobiography, deferred a decision as to his career path. "I didn't take advantage of it because I was already involved in what was just beginning to be called jazz. I told myself that that kind of music couldn't last, that I'd give it another year, and maybe next year go and collect my scholarship."
Needless to say, paint and canvas would remain purely a hobby as he circled the world playing to an ever-growing audience. As he himself remarked: "You can't paint in trains, planes, cars or buses." His music, too, reflected a changing, fast-moving and restless world, the compositions coming together in airport lounges or, frequently, the back of a car driven from gig to gig by his long-serving saxophonist-cum-chauffeur, Harry Carney.
He developed into a bandleader after appreciating they usually left with more money in their pocket than those they employed. Yet he always insisted he played for love, not money, and that showed in his music. His leadership qualities were unconventional: Ellington bands rarely spoke with one voice, but the happy result was an environment in which everyone shone in a collection of individuals.
Ellington's first home-town band, imaginatively dubbed the Washingtonians, moved to New York in 1923 search of fame and fortune. A long-term residency at the Kentucky Club was followed by a similar spell at the legendary Cotton Club, from 1927 to 1931. Playing to a predominantly white clientele provided the springboard they sought - and, though they'd return to the Cotton Club later in the decade for further seasons, they were now up and running as a major jazz attraction.
Ellington himself was no virtuoso, and never claimed to be, but had an intuitive gift for picking the personnel to give his music the required elements for memorability - then writing with their gifts very much in mind. Perhaps the most influential of all his early cohorts was trumpeter James 'Bubber' Miley, whose 1927 showcase 'Black And Tan Fantasy' (co-written with Ellington) reflected a move from smooth dance music to a more New Orleans-influenced sound. Another track featuring Miley from that year, 'East St Louis Toodle-Oo', was covered nearly half a century later by rock band Steely Dan, a testament to the longevity of the music.
Our earliest selections feature Ellington not only with the Cotton Club Orchestra but the Harlem Footwarmers and other aggregations. Among his Cotton Club confederates were the reed section of Barney Bigard, Harry Carney and Johnny Hodges; by 1930's classic 'Mood Indigo', clarinettist Bigard was accompanied by Arthur Whetsol and Joe Nanton. 'Rocking' In Rhythm' and 'The Mooche' were other notable early successes, while Bubber Miley's successor Cootie Williams (celebrated in 1940's 'Concerto For Cootie', featured here) also made his mark.
All Ellington's music had a story behind it. He explained that 'Mood Indigo', our opening track, told of an eight year-old boy and girl. "Every day he comes to her house and she sits inthe window and waits. Then one day he doesn't come. 'Mood Indigo' just tells how she feels."
The material here traces Ellington's progress from late 1920s to mid 1940s, the era in which he made his name as both writer and bandleader. His techniques, described as 'impressionistic' by some, resulted in compositions that were both impressive and ambitious. The recruitment of arranger Billy Strayhorn in 1939 added further dimensions to the music: tenor saxophonist Ben Webster and bass player Jimmy Blanton joined simultaneously, and this line-up can be heard to effect on tunes such as 'Ko-Ko' and 'Jack The Bear'. The latter features a bass solo from Blanton, who tragically died three years later aged just 23.
Ellington's 1940s success swam against two tides - an economic situation that worked against big bands, and the increasing popularity of bebop. A six-trumpet line-up from 1946 was well thought of, but by the following decade Ellington and band were recording dance-craze sides like 'Cowboy Rhumba' and 'Bunny Hop Mambo' to stay afloat. The advent of rock'n'roll made future triumphs even more unlikely.
But that was far from the end of the story. The 1950s would find Duke taking increasing advantage of the 20-minute-a-side vinyl long-player to compose longer, multi-movement suites. As ever, the textures, forms and frameworks he devised were the perfect base for improvisation. He also wrote a number of film soundtracks, most notably 1950's The Asphalt Jungle, while a series of sacred music concerts were staged in churches and cathedrals. Always a religious man, Ellington was increasingly so after the death of his mother Daisy.
After several relatively fallow years, a hugely well received appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1956 raised the curtain on a new phase of Ellington's career on both sides of the Atlantic. A welcome visitor to Europe since 1933, he renewed the acquaintance and even enjoyed an audience with (fellow!) royalty in 1959 when he met Queen Elizabeth II.
Ellington was a prolific writer whose compositions are estimated at between 2-5,000, so even a three-disc set can only scratch the surface of his contribution to popular music as a whole and jazz in particular. And listening from a 21st century viewpoint cannot adequately illustrate its groundbreaking properties.
Let's leave the last word to long-time friend and drummer Sonny Greer. "The background Duke wrote for individual artists not only showed them off to their best advantage but also made them feel comfortable. The art of presentation was ingrained in him, and when musicians moved out on their own or into other bands they found it wasn't the same."
You could take the man out of Ellington's band, but you couldn't take Ellington out of the man.
Michael Heatley |
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