Duke Ellington Big Four

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and leader of a jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life…

One of the great entries in Duke Ellington's "exotic" albums of the 60s - records that aren't exactly exotica by any stretch of the imagination, but which have musical themes that were inspired by the international travels of the Ellington band at the time! In this case, the locale is the Virgin Islands - where Ellington performed in 1965, and returned home to record this set as a memory of tunes played by the band in St Croix and St Thomas. The core of the set is the initial Virgin Islands suite - made up of four new tunes that include "Island Virgin", "Virgin Jungle", "Fiddler On The Diddle", and "Jungle Kitty" - all nicely rhythmic numbers that explore some fresh themes with especially nice horn solos from the members of the group. Other tracks are older numbers performed on the tour, given a bit of a new twist here.

This is an eight-CD set more for Duke Ellington fanatics than for general listeners. Originally, some of the music came out as a two-LP set (Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur) and a single album (Ellington's Soul Call), but the great majority of the material was previously unreleased when this box came out in 1998.

One of the great entries in Duke Ellington's "exotic" albums of the 60s - records that aren't exactly exotica by any stretch of the imagination, but which have musical themes that were inspired by the international travels of the Ellington band at the time! In this case, the locale is the Virgin Islands - where Ellington performed in 1965, and returned home to record this set as a memory of tunes played by the band in St Croix and St Thomas. The core of the set is the initial Virgin Islands suite - made up of four new tunes that include "Island Virgin", "Virgin Jungle", "Fiddler On The Diddle", and "Jungle Kitty" - all nicely rhythmic numbers that explore some fresh themes with especially nice horn solos from the members of the group. Other tracks are older numbers performed on the tour, given a bit of a new twist here.

Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band, covering the years 1940-1942 in the great composer and bandleader's career, is essentially the third time that RCA has issued this material on CD. The first was a botched job, appalling even, with its flattened-out, compressed sound, along with a chopped version of "Take the A-Train" and other sonic and editorial errors. The second version was completely remastered and corrected the editorial problems, but featured no alternate takes from the band's performances. Beyond the original 66 tracks, nine additional cuts are featured here, including four brand-new master-take issues of "Another Pitter Patter," "Body and Soul," "Sophisticated Lady," and "Mr. J.B. Blues," as well as alternate takes of "Ko-Ko," "Bojangles," "Sepia Panorama," "Jumpin' Punkins," and "Jump for Joy"…

1933 found Duke Ellington going overseas for the first time, and the four songs (and a short interview) that he recorded in London are on this CD. Otherwise things stayed pretty consistent with no major personnel change (Otto Hardwick rejoined the band), Ivie Anderson proving to be a strong asset with her vocals, and such gems as "Merry Go Round," "Sophisticated Lady," "Drop Me Off in Harlem," and "I'm Satisfied" offering further proof that Ellington was the master of the three-minute record, making every bar count. As usual with the Classics series, all of the master takes are included on this CD (repeating songs if they were recorded on different days) but leaving off the alternate takes.

The Essential Duke Ellington, a two-CD set, differs from previous Columbia/Legacy Duke Ellington reissues in that the music is drawn not only from Sony's vaults but from BMG's vaults, too. Four selections are from the 1920s, 20 date from the 1930s, seven are from the 1940s, and the final six were recorded between 1950 and 1960. Is this an essential acquisition? Most Ellington collectors will already have all of these performances in more complete fashion, while general collectors should realize that this two-fer does not cover Ellington's final 14 years and largely overlooks most of the highlights from the 1950s…