Duke Ellington

don't think i've heard any of the private collection stuff ... any tips on where to start? jesus there is so much Ellington. Scary thing is that pretty much all of it is pretty great!

The first one I got is v. 5, "The Suites, New York, 1968 & 1970," and that is pretty sweet.

Volume 5 kicks off with a take on "Such Sweet Thunder" that's one of my favorite tracks ever. The "Ocht O'Clock Rock" on Vol 8 is one of his funkiest numbers. I love the room sound on the Private Collection studio albums. For that reason, I like the "Ad Lib on Nippon" better than the one of Far East Suite.

cool, i'll check that out. love the late 60s Ellington sound.

oh nice, you can get a set of them for pretty cheap: http://www.amazon.com/Duke-Ellington-DUKE-ELLINGTON-Box/dp/B00006L5TC/ref=reg_hu-wl_mrai-recs

Are these private collection volumes in roughly chronological order? Because I majorly fuck with 60s Ellington and I wonder if the box of Volumes 6-10 is therefore the one for me.

Almost wish he wrote less sometimes - feel like I just can't get my mind around his body of work.

yeah, but it warms my heart to think that there's a lifetime of duke to listen to ...

The Private Collection series jumps all over the place chronologically. According to allmusic:

Vol. 1: Studio Sessions, Chicago 1956
Vol. 2: Dance Concerts, California, 1958
Vol. 3: Studio Sessions, New York, 1962
Vol. 4: Studio Sessions, New York, 1963
Vol. 5: The Suites, New York, 1968 & 1970
Vol. 6: Dance Dates, California, 1958
Vol. 7: Studio Sessions, 1957 & 1962
Vol. 8: Studio Sessions, 1957, 1965, 1966, 1967, San Francisco, Chicago, New York
Vol. 9: Studio Sessions, New York, 1968
Vol. 10: Studio Sessions, New Your & Chicago, 1965, 1966 & 1971

You'd think somewhere on the web there'd be a review of the whole series, but I'm not able to find one.

another great ellington deal: http://www.amazon.com/Original-Album-Classics-Duke-Ellington/dp/B000UO7IME/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1CGIV5J69DXFS&colid=1X3ACMTXW3S2I
5 50s albums for just about ten bucks

and then there's all these Treasury Shows too, yeesh: http://www.storyvillerecords.com/default.aspx?tabID=2627&productId=27249&state_2837=2

xpost that is a great deal! Stuff from when he began to record longer pieces thanks to the new LP format iirc.

in terms of their bands/styles (not nec. their overall impact) I've always thought of it like this

Basie:James Brown::Ellington:George Clinton

that's a good way to think about it. who's sly stone, though?
all of those records on that Original Album Classics thing are pretty great. Such Sweet Thunder, the shakespeare one, has some amazing stuff.

I've been collecting versions of Duke Ellington's "Caravan" for a while now. My favorite is a hidden track at the end of a best of Ferlin Husky CD. Or is it the Three Suns'? For some reason this song inspired the maddest cover versions, especially in the '60s.

who's sly stone, though?

lol I dunno would have to be someone who's classic period was in between or concurrent with Basie and Ellington...

maybe he's cab calloway

and xpost, yeah, i love hearing all the different interpretations of Ellington's event the not-so-good ones. For awhile I was collecting versions "Solitude" ...

*even* the not so good ones

this record is wild -- synthy, moog-y versions of Ellington standards
http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/u/umilia_pier_odetoduke_101b.jpg

so my sister got me the "private collection" (all ten discs) for xmas. haven't waded through all of it, but everything so far is great. some of the ate 50s live shows, like at air force bases or something, are fab, really loose. you can hear the band talking to each other during songs onstage.

"some of the *late* 50s live shows"

tylerw's sister = hero

otm

I thought those were mostly studio recordings? I have a volume five, which includes of "The Degas Suite" and "The River," both of which are totally sprawling and brilliant. "The River" also has a section that prefigures "Portrait Of Mahalia Jackson," later to feature in the New Orleans Suite (and one of the most stunning moments in Ellington's oeuvre).

there are two or three discs of live stuff, the rest is studio. yeah the degas/river disc is incredible, so beautiful. had it turned up loud in the house last weekend and it sounded amazing, epic.

Cool, gonna try to get the rest of the Private Collection discs. That late-60s studio stuff is amazing, one of his career peaks (though it's not often regarded as such).

so weird! the 1975 super bowl halftime show was ... a tribute to duke ellington.
http://blogojazz.blogspot.com/2011/01/jazz-at-super-bowl.html

have been through a major Duke Ellington phase the past few days, also including the Ella Fitzgerald songbook records. WHAT A BAND!!!!!!!!!!!!

yeah i'm still rolling through the private collection. so good! just ordered the "black brown and beige" box set, too. 1944-46 recordings, i think.

That Ella Duke songbook record is great and definitely the jazziest of those songbooks. I'm hoping this recently unearthed Twelve Nights In Hollywood thing will give them a run for the money.

This thread doesn't seem to mention the great record he made with Rosemary Clooney, Blue Rose.

the spoken bits with strayhorn and ellington on the songbook set are great, too. so you've heard the 12 nights Ella set? i've been tempted by it, but don't reall have the cash at the moment.

oh! i see it's much cheaper than it was originally on amazon ... hmm.

I heard one song from it over the weekend. Hopefully will be hearing more soon.

back to duke -- i also just got the duke ellington's america book from the library. so far so good! glad to have something big to read about him, i haven't been nuts about the other bios i've read.

Nice podcast interview with Geoffrey O'Brien about Ellington's later work.

I'm about halfway through Ellington's America; so far, it's ridiculously informed/informative, and beyond essential.

yeah, that book is great, i just read it last month. not heavy on the personal life stuff (which is maybe a good thing?) but just sort of a fascinating journey through duke's career, with all kinds of fantastic details. even though it sounds kinda dull, the info about his finances is really interesting. always thought that maybe duke was exaggerating when he said he lost money keeping his band on retainer all those years, but it looks like it was true. he just loved having a band always there to play his music.

all the civil rights era chapters are great, too, as is his chapter on black brown and beige. really a wonderful book.

What was shocking to me was how long his (financially) fallow period was. I assumed it was for maybe 3 or 4 years in the 50s; turns out it was nearly ten years. I suspect it's impossible to get too into his personal life, since he was so guarded; Mercer's autobiography goes more into it than any other Ellington book, but it mostly amounts to things anyone could have guessed (flying into a seething rage upon hearing of Strayhorn's death, for instance).

yeah, in re: to finances, it's obvious he could've, at some point, just dissolved his band and just become a kind of freelance celebrity musician, and probably been a lot more successful in a business sense. have you ever read music is my mistress? i haven't and the descriptions in this new book don't make it sound very essential.

One of my favorite parts of the book is describing how Ellington and Irving Mill quite consciously marketed him as a "genius" and a composer as much as a band leader and recording artist, which bought Duke the time and leeway to become a genius composer. They were incredibly clever about balancing showbiz concerns with high art, making the pressures complement each other, rather than being in opposition.

I listen to late Ellington more than the early Ellington at this point. That podcast hits upon a lot of my favorite tracks- Ocht O'Clock, Ad Lib in Nippon, Blood Count. I've never heard the ballet they mention.

yeah! i mean, obviously, duke had the talent to back up the "genius" claim, but it was fascinating how early him and mills were pushing that aspect.

and i agree, the late ellington is what is really doing it for me these days. kind of want to put together a one-disc duke ellington in the 70s comp. don't have everything though!

I listen to late Ellington more than the early Ellington at this point. That podcast hits upon a lot of my favorite tracks- Ocht O'Clock, Ad Lib in Nippon, Blood Count. I've never heard the ballet they mention.

It ("The River") is on The Private Collection, Vol. 5. It's brilliant and fascinating, and also contains the germ of what would later become "Portrait Of Mahalia Jackson" (from The New Orleans Suite), one of his most heartbreaking themes.

^^^yeah, the river is amazing.

anyone heard this one? live trio recorded in 72.
http://pixhost.info/avaxhome/2007-12-22/001.jpg

yeah, in re: to finances, it's obvious he could've, at some point, just dissolved his band and just become a kind of freelance celebrity musician, and probably been a lot more successful in a business sense. have you ever read music is my mistress? i haven't and the descriptions in this new book don't make it sound very essential.

True about how he could've otherwise dealt with his financial situation, but with his band as his instrument, he would have probably felt somewhat adrift and unfulfilled.

I've read MIMM, and it's kind of goofy and all over the place. It's not chronological, and one chapter is usually a non-sequitur to the previous chapter (i.e., Chapter 4: Louis Bellson was a great drummer! Chapter 5: I really enjoy a good steak!) I mean, it's a fun read, kind of like going to dinner with Duke and listening to him talk for about six hours. But it's not the least bit revealing, unless you count an exact account of every single restaurant meal he ever ate in his entire life.

ha, well, that does sound kind of good. my library's got it, so i'll probably get around to it sometime soon.

The Whitney gig is a lot of fun; he plays some of his earliest material (and laughs with the audience about him being unable to play it now). Reminds me of James Booker just hanging out and reeling off medleys.

In the Uncommon Market has more trio stuff which I love.