The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz (31 page)

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Authors: Tom Piazza

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BOOK: The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz
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on baritone, and Richard Davis on bass. The session doesn't have as unified a feeling as the earlier date - several of the tunes aren't by Nelson at all, including two less-than-thrilling pieces by Dave Brubeck - and there is a very humdrum blues line by Ellington altoist Johnny Hodges. But there is a relaxed, at-home feeling about the solo work, fine accompaniment by the rhythm section, which includes the seldom-heard Roger Kellaway on piano, and guest appearances on two tracks by Ben Webster which are worth the price of admission by themselves. Phil Woods, Pepper Adams, and the ever-unusual-sounding Thad Jones are all in great shape, too.
Duke Ellington, Part 3
Although there are different schools of thought on the relative merits of the various periods of Ellington's creative life, it is my opinion that the period beginning with the 1951 "A Tone Parallel to Harlem" and ending with Ellington's death in 1974 was by far the richest artistic time of his career. There is no denying the genius of the 1940-1941 recordings or the heights reached by the mid-1930s band. But by the 1950s Ellington had developed farther, and he was still in possession of seemingly limitless energy. The extended works he had begun producing, mostly suites of interrelated short pieces, contained some of the most brilliant music ever written in America, and the band, after Johnny Hodges rejoined in 1955 (he had departed for several years in 1951), was arguably the greatest Ellington ever had.
The sheer amount of material recorded by Ellington and his band in the last twenty-five years of his life makes a full survey here impossible. I'll confine myself to some of the highlights and then point you in the direction of the rest. Many of his late-1950s albums for Columbia are available only on hard-to-find imports; I will briefly discuss some of the best of these as well.
Uptown And Around
Ellington Uptown
(Columbia CK 40836), recorded in 1951 and 1952, is notable mainly for its definitive version of Ellington's "A Tone Parallel to Harlem," which had been originally commissioned by Arturo Toscanini for the NBC Symphony. This performance, nearly fourteen minutes long, shows how formidable Ellington's compositional abilities had become by this time. The word "Harlem," intoned initially by plunger-muted trumpet, reappears as a compositional motif as the suite winds its way through a kaleidoscopic terrain representing the boulevards, back alleys, and even the churches of New York City's famous black neighborhood. The piece, also known as the "Harlem Suite,'' remains one of Ellington's greatest compositions.
 
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Uptown
also includes the two-part "The Controversial Suite," an occasionally satiric tour through jazz history, and a feature for Louis Bellson's drums, "Skin Deep." The set, like another early-1950s Ellington set entitled
Ellington Masterpieces
(not available in a domestic version), also includes extended versions of several Ellington standards. The most famous of those on
Uptown
is undoubtedly "Take the 'A' Train," with Betty Roche's buoyant vocal.
Masterpieces
is worth hunting up, especially for "The Tattooed Bride,'' an extended work that rivals "Harlem" for imagination and coherence.
A further investigation of Ellington's extended-form works might begin with
Three Suites
(Columbia CK 46825), a set composed of three 1960 collaborative efforts by Ellington and Billy Strayhorn: the brilliant and underrated "Suite Thursday," based on characters and themes from the work of author John Steinbeck, and their ingenious reworkings of
The Nutcracker
and the
Peer Gynt
suites. This entire disc could be used as an orchestration text; throughout it, Ellington and Strayhorn manage to elicit an amazing variety of sonorities from the band, all of which make musical sense. Those familiar with
The Nutcracker
will be especially pleased by the ingenuity and wit shown in this reworking. The
Peer Gynt
selections are less well known, somewhat less playful, but also great music. "Suite Thursday" turns up in an even more exciting performance on
The Great Paris Concert
(Atlantic 304-2), as does "A Tone Parallel to Harlem."
The Ellington Suites
(Pablo/OJC-446) is most notable for "The Queen's Suite," which Ellington composed after a 1958 meeting with Queen Elizabeth. The version on this disc is the same one that he recorded in 1959 at his own expense, pressed in a single copy as a gift for the Queen, and refused to issue in his lifetime. It is certainly one of the best things he ever composed, containing within it a dazzling variety of moods and textures, from the lyricism of "Sunset and the Mocking Bird" to the percussive "Apes and Peacocks," by way of the lusciously scored reed-section showpiece "Le Sucrier Velours." Also part of the suite is Ellington's beautiful and unique piano solo (with bowed bass accompaniment), "The Single Petal of a Rose." "The Uwis Suite" (composed in honor of a 1972 residency at the University of Wisconsin) is probably best known for the train movement called "Loco Madi," although there is an interesting polka movement here, too.
At present, the stunning 1957 Shakespearean suite
Such Sweet Thunder
is not easily available, but it is worth paying for an imported issue if you can find one. It is to be hoped that Columbia will decide to issue
Such Sweet
Thunder domestically, along with such other late-1950s extended-form masterpieces as
A Drum Is a Woman and Black, Brown and Beige
with Mahalia Jackson.
Possibly the greatest of Ellington's late-1950s Columbias was his score for an
 
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otherwise forgettable 1959 Otto Preminger movie starring Jimmy Stewart and Lee Remick. In a 1988 article for the
New Republic
, I called
Anatomy of a Murder
(Rykodisc RCD 10039) "the closest thing we have to a vernacular American symphony," and I think that still holds true. This disc will repay as much close listening as you care to give it. Ellington integrates, with consummate skill and profundity, the two main themes (the first theme being the bluesy melody found in "Flirtibird," "Way Early Subtone," and "Almost Cried,'' the second theme being the ballad melody found in "Low Key Lightly," "Midnight Indigo," "Grace Valse," and "Haupe"), which are in fact mirror images of one another. Each time they appear they are reorchestrated for very different effects. In addition, he uses a wealth of other melodic and motivic material to maximum effect. Ellington wastes nothing here; even a brief bass ostinato figure in "Midnight Indigo" shows up later, transposed and played by baritone saxophonist Harry Carney, in "Sunswept Sunday." Rykodisc, which licensed the material from Columbia, did a brilliant remastering job, and you need this disc.
Ellington continued working in extended forms up until his death.
The Far East Suite
(RCA/Bluebird 7640-2-RB), a collaboration with Strayhorn from 1966, cannot be recommended highly enough. Anchored around three long pieces - "Tourist Point of View," the beautiful "Mount Harissa," and the epic "Ad Lib on Nippon" - the suite presents a fantastic mix of rhythms and moods, using all the resources of that great orchestra. "Isfahan" and "Agra," features for Johnny Hodges's alto saxophone and Harry Carney's baritone, respectively, are two of Ellington's ballad masterpieces. Ellington's piano is featured heavily on "Mount Harissa" and, especially, "Ad Lib on Nippon." This set is a cornerstone of any jazz library.
New Orleans Suite
(Atlantic 1580-2), from 1970, is one of Ellington's lesser works. This is only to say that it doesn't have the staggering variety of timbral approaches and melodic invention that his greatest works do. There's some very good stuff here, though, including the surging "Second Line" and "Blues for New Orleans," which was Johnny Hodges's last recorded performance.
Latin American Suite
(Fantasy/OJC-469), from 1968, is one of the lesser-known Ellington suites, but it is one of the best, almost as good as
The Far East Suite
. It lacks a single track as grand in conception as "Mount Harissa" or "Ad Lib on Nippon," but it is swimming in fresh and striking melodic ideas, brilliant orchestration, and rhythmic intrigue. The leader's piano is at center stage to an even greater extent than in
The Far East Suite
, especially on the gorgeous, tango-laced "Tina," a musical impression of Argentina recorded in 1970. This set is a neglected gem.
Even better, perhaps, is the music on
Duke Ellington - The Private Collection
,
 
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Volume 5: The Suites, New York 1968 and 1970
(SAJA 7 91045). "The Degas Suite," written as a soundtrack for a 1968 film, and "The River," composed in 1970 for choreographer Alvin Ailey, both contain music as good as anything Ellington wrote. In both suites, his lyrical, meditative side gets the strongest workout; "Race" and "Daily Double'' from "The Degas Suite" contain beautiful ballad melodies played by Johnny Hodges and tenorist Harold Ashby, and the opening section of "The River" is a piano solo organized around one tone, in which the tonality constantly shifts, like a jewel showing its facets. This set is a must for any serious Ellington fan.
Afro-Bossa
(Discovery 71002), although not billed as a suite, might be viewed as one, as it is an extended study in different rhythmic grooves and orchestral techniques. This is a real musicians' album, full of fascinating sounds, deployed brilliantly. Many different percussion instruments are used here to set up the various rhythmic patterns, and, purely as a matter of taste, I get a little burnt out on the percussion by about the third track. It's as if too much of some spice had been added to a great stew. Still, it is a unique and valuable set.
Blues in Orbit
Not all of Ellington's extended works cover an entire album; a number of Ellington's albums of the 1950s and 1960s contain minisuites along with other material.
Ellington at Newport
(Columbia CK 40587), recorded live at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, is one of Ellington's most famous recordings, mainly because of the extended version of his 1937 "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue," featuring Paul Gonsalves's legendary twenty-seven chorus tenor saxophone solo. This rocking blues is one of the greatest jazz performances ever recorded. The set includes the neglected but excellent "Newport Jazz Festival Suite," a three-part piece. It also includes a feature for altoist Johnny Hodges on his old hit "Jeep's Blues." Taken as a whole, this disc is certainly one of the essential recordings.
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book
(Verve 837 035-2) is just what it sounds like; for about half the disc, the great singer is accompanied by the Ellington band, singing mostly the better-known items from the Ellington-Strayhorn oeuvre but throwing in a few neglected beauties as well, like "Clementine" and "Lost in Meditation." For the other half, Fitzgerald is backed by a fine non-Ellington small band including violinist Stuff Smith and tenorist Ben Webster. "Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald," a suite in four parts on which Fitzgerald doesn't perform, is also included and is another of the least recognized Ellington-Strayhorn masterpieces. Sit down with "Portrait" and follow the motifs through the four movements and have a musical ball.
Jazz Party
(Columbia CK 40712) is a bit of a grab bag, containing, among
 
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other things, one suite ("Toot Suite," which climaxes with a fire-breathing Paul Gonsalves solo), two interesting compositions featuring a nine-member percussion section in addition to regular drummer Sam Woodyard, a blues featuring singer Jimmy Rushing, and the definitive version of Billy Strayhorn's masterpiece "U.M.M.G.," which features Dizzy Gillespie sitting in on trumpet and which builds to a tremendous climax. This set would be worth having for "U.M.M.G." if for nothing else.
Another grab bag is
Blues in Orbit
(Columbia CK 44051), a collection of items from 1958 and 1959, which makes up in memorable individual performances what it lacks in overall coherence. Special highlights are the great and unique train piece "Track 360," the minor-key swinger "Villes Ville Is the Place, Man," Johnny Hodges's ballad feature on "Sentimental Lady" (also known as "I Didn't Know about You"), and the unusual and ingenious ''Blues in Blueprint." There is other Ellington to pick up before this one, but it is a very satisfying set nonetheless.
The Great Paris Concert
(Atlantic 304-2), a two-disc set from 1963, is an extremely strong picture of the band in action, live. As mentioned, it contains very good versions of both "A Tone Parallel to Harlem" and "Suite Thursday," but it also has a roaring, apocalyptic rendition of "Rockin' in Rhythm," as well as several excellent Hodges features, very well recorded. Ellington specialists will dig the versions of "Rose of the Rio Grande," "Echoes of Harlem," and a great "Tutti for Cootie," featuring Cootie Williams in a graduate seminar on the plunger mute. Very highly recommended.
Ellington and his band spent much, or most, of their time playing for audiences who wanted most to hear the great standards Ellington had composed and to dance to them, as well as to other popular music arranged by Ellington.
Ellington Indigos
(Columbia CK 44444), by the 1957 band, contains stunningly beautiful versions of Ellington's "Solitude," "Mood Indigo," and "Prelude to a Kiss" (one of Johnny Hodges's best performances), as well as suave and deep versions of pop tunes like "Where or When" (featuring Paul Gonsalves's tenor), "Dancing in the Dark," and "Tenderly." This set is one of the cornerstones of late-1950s Ellington and might get overlooked in the wave of very welcome interest in Ellington's extended works. Don't overlook it. (For more in this vein, Ellington's currently hard-to-find late-1950s set
At the Bal Masque
presents ingenious arrangements of fine standards like "Alice Blue Gown," "Poor Butterfly," and "Indian Love Call.")
Another one that absolutely must not be overlooked is ...
And His Mother Called Him Bill
(RCA/Bluebird 6287-2-RB), a 1967 recording consisting entirely of compositions by Billy Strayhorn, who had died earlier in the year. It shows the band at its very best, playing incomparable material composed by El-

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