Duke 1940

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…

The Genius of Duke Ellington, bandleader extraordinaire, pianist and greatest American composer of the 20th century is celebrated in the 93 ducal masterpieces featured in this 4 CD box set. Ellington's achievements as composer, arranger, pianist and bandleader touch a bewildering variety of levels, producing music that has never been surpassed, music that has been a constant inspiration to numerous other musicians, and those who truly appreciate Ellington's achievements.

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"…

The Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1940 may not have been as popular with the general public as that of Glenn Miller, but they were one of the great big bands of all time. The best way to acquire their music is to get all of the alternate takes, which are available through RCA/Bluebird, but the Classics series has done a fine job of reissuing all of the master takes. This particular disc has a small-group session apiece led by altoist Johnny Hodges and cornetist Rex Stewart along with nine songs from the big band. Among the gems are "In a Mellotone," "Five O'Clock Whistle," "Warm Valley" (heard twice), "Daydream," and "Linger Awhile." In addition, the four classic Jimmy Blanton-Duke Ellington bass-piano duets (which include "Pitter Panther Patter" and "Mr. J.B. Blues") are included and find Blanton sounding quite futuristic, almost like Charles Mingus 15 years later.

While listeners really should just dive right in and get the three-disc Blanton-Webster Band package from Bluebird, this single disc does a fine job of chronicling Ellington's epochal 1940 sessions. One of a few Classics discs covering that year, the 22-track collection takes in such milestones as "Concerto for Cootie," "Cottontail," "Ko-Ko," and "Sepia Panorama," while spotlighting some absolutely classic solo work by Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, Rex Stewart, and Barney Bigard, among many others. And even with such essential cuts as "In a Mellotone" and "Warm Valley" missing - not to mention a handful of duets featuring Ellington and bassist Jimmy Blanton - this roundup still has more than enough bedrock jazz to keep newcomers fully engrossed.

Duke Ellington was the most important composer in the history of jazz as well as being a bandleader who held his large group together continuously for almost 50 years. The two aspects of his career were related; Ellington used his band as a musical laboratory for his new compositions and shaped his writing specifically to showcase the talents of his bandmembers, many of whom remained with him for long periods. Ellington also wrote film scores and stage musicals, and several of his instrumental works were adapted into songs that became standards. In addition to touring year in and year out, he recorded extensively, resulting in a gigantic body of work that was still being assessed a quarter century after his death.

Duke Ellington was at the height of his popularity during the 1940s; at the same time, he was enjoying a creative peak and fronting one of the finest organizations he'd ever assembled, including trumpeters Cootie Williams, Ray Nance, and later Rex Stewart and Harold "Shorty" Baker, trombonists Lawrence Brown, Tricky Sam Nanton, and Tommy Dorsey, saxophonists Johnny Hodges and Ben Webster, Jimmy Blanton and Oscar Pettiford on bass, and drummers Sonny Greer and Sid Catlett. The material here includes Ellington's famous versions of "Take the 'A' Train," "Caravan," "The 'C' Jam Blues," "Mood Indigo," and "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)."

Just the fact that Ellington's extended masterpiece "Reminiscing in Tempo" is included here in its original and continuous form is reason enough to pick up this compilation. Initially recorded in 1935, "Reminiscing" was the first thoroughly composed jazz piece and one that not only demonstrated Ellington's knack for longer forms, but also featured practically all of his singular soloists. Upon its first release, the 13-minute piece was broken up over a few 78s, later making its way into EP form. Currently, the Classics label includes it on one of its Chronological discs, but spread over four distinct tracks. So, this 1991 Columbia release might be the only way to get this great work in its seamless form as it was originally recorded. Collector's concerns aside, this CD was the audio companion to an Ellington documentary aired on PBS. Predictably, it provides something of an overview of Ellington's career, beginning with a recording of "The Mooche" from his Cotton Club days in the late '20s up through a version of "Black Beauty" from 1960.

This 24-CD box, which dwarfs even most Bear Family sets in scope, is essentially everything Ellington cut for RCA-Victor over a 46-year period. There are gaps, especially after 1946 when he jumped to Columbia, but otherwise, this is all of it. One quickly discovers that, by virtue of its leader's taste, combined with the good sense of RCA-Victor's recording managers, this was a band that did little, if any, wrong on record…