The Duke The Lady

In 1949, producer Norman Granz released a remarkable album of 78s that consisted of a dozen selections (many of them specially recorded for the occasion) that perfectly summed up the modern jazz scene of the time. The deluxe set consisted of two Duke Ellington features for baritonist Harry Carney with strings, a pair of complex Neal Hefti arrangements, small-group sides by Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, and altoist Willie Smith, Machito's "Tanga," major works by arrangers Ralph Burns and George Handy and, the piece de resistance, Coleman Hawkins' pioneering unaccompanied tenor solo "Picasso."