Eight And a Half 1963

Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington - The Great Summit Complete Sessions (1961) {2CD Ron McMaster 24-bit Deluxe Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 739 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 296 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 46 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1961, 2000 Roulette Jazz / EMI | 7243 5 24546 2 4
Jazz / Mainstream Jazz

Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington were (and are) two of the main stems of jazz. Any way you look at it, just about everything that's ever happened in this music leads directly – or indirectly – back to them. Both men were born on the cusp of the 19th and 20th centuries, and each became established as a leader during the middle '20s. Although their paths had crossed from time to time over the years, nobody in the entertainment industry had ever managed to get Armstrong and Ellington into a recording studio to make an album together. On April 3, 1961, producer Bob Thiele achieved what should be regarded as one of his greatest accomplishments; he organized and supervised a seven-and-a-half-hour session at RCA Victor's Studio One on East 24th Street in Manhattan, using a sextet combining Duke Ellington with Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars.

Benny Goodman was the first celebrated bandleader of the Swing Era, dubbed "The King of Swing," his popular emergence marking the beginning of the era. He was an accomplished clarinetist whose distinctive playing gave an identity both to his big band and to the smaller units he led simultaneously. The most popular figure of the first few years of the Swing Era, he continued to perform until his death 50 years later.

This album consists of eight songs Anita O'Day performed in Tokyo on January 12, 1964. This is a completely new discovery, different from the performance taped on December 30, 1963 for a TV broadcast. The latter recording was released on videotape and LP formats in 1985 by Polydor Records of Japan. The five additional tracks are from the American Stars of Jazz TV program hosted by Bobby Troup. The songs are taken from two sessions broadcast in 1956 and 1957.

For a mild-mannered man whose music was always easy on the ear, Nat King Cole managed to be a figure of considerable controversy during his 30 years as a professional musician. From the late '40s to the mid-'60s, he was a massively successful pop singer who ranked with such contemporaries as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and Dean Martin. He shared with those peers a career that encompassed hit records, international touring, radio and television shows, and appearances in films. But unlike them, he had not emerged from a background as a band singer in the swing era. Instead, he had spent a decade as a celebrated jazz pianist, leading his own small group. Oddly, that was one source of controversy. For some reason, there seem to be more jazz critics than fans of traditional pop among music journalists, and Cole's transition from jazz to pop during a period when jazz itself was becoming less popular was seen by them as a betrayal.

For a mild-mannered man whose music was always easy on the ear, Nat King Cole managed to be a figure of considerable controversy during his 30 years as a professional musician. From the late '40s to the mid-'60s, he was a massively successful pop singer who ranked with such contemporaries as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and Dean Martin. He shared with those peers a career that encompassed hit records, international touring, radio and television shows, and appearances in films.

This lesser-known set by Nat Adderley teams the likable cornetist with either Jim Hall or Kenny Burrell on guitar and the Junior Mance Trio (which consists of pianist Mance, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Mickey Roker). Nat wrote all eight selections and, even though none would catch on (a la "Work Song"), several of the numbers are quite memorable and are deserving of revival. "Loneliness" sounds properly desolate, "Roses for Your Pillow" is a superior ballad and most of the other songs are filled with joy, including "El Chico," "Half-Time" and "Broadway Lady." A fine obscurity recorded at a time when Nat was one of the stars of his brother Cannonball Adderley's Sextet.