Duke Ellington : Never No Lament: The Blanton-We

[Bright Moments]

i have a chance to pick up at a good price: Duke Ellington : Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band

can anyone recommend it? how is the sound? is the material available elsewhere?

thanks as always for the imput!

B-)

[Harold_Z]

Get it.

There's been a few threads on this reissue - try a search and you'll get a lot of opinions - mostly positive. I have the set and it's great. I like the sound better than any other cd issue I've heard.

Edited April 4, 2005 by Harold_Z

[jazzbo]

I would say exactly what Harold said!

Edited April 4, 2005 by jazzbo

[Chuck Nessa]

Yup.

[Bright Moments]

this was the review that concerned me:

Unlistenable, April 3, 2003

Reviewer: Blues Bro "bluesbro" (Lakewood, Colorado USA) - See all my reviews

What a shame RCA! Years waiting for this reissue and they completely ruined it. The 'remaster' is terrible, I can say is unlistenable for disk 1 at least. Dont think your copy is defective, they all sound the same. You wont be able to turn up the volume, if you will, you wont listen to the Duke's music but you'll isten your speaker breaking apart in front of you. Nothing in the liner notes to explain why these CD sound like this: did they use 78's, second copies? You'll never know, that is not your business. Can someone somewhere put a stop to these greedy companies like RCA, who try to cash 'repacking' a product without even bothering to listen to how bad these CDs sound? Save your money, look for an imported version of these recordings and considser twice before buying CDs from RCA.

[Aggie87]

This is available at yourmusic.com for $14.97....

[jazzbo]

I don't know what that reviewer was listening to but it doesn't sound like what I hear.

[Bright Moments]

i took the plunge!

[jazzbo]

[WD45]

I wish my CD player would automaitcally play the set without the DATED vocals.

[jazzbo]

[Alexander]

Agree on the vocals, but the set is essential and I think it sounds quite good...

[sal]

I wish my CD player would automaitcally play the set without the DATED vocals.

No kidding.

[jazzbo]

Wow. Maybe it's just my decades of listening to this stuff now under my belt, but these don't really sound like they ought to be skipped over to me!

[WD45]

Is that a National steel on the piano? Cool!

[jazzbo]

I'm not sure.

Does that thing even have strings?

Ellington pretended to be playing it in another photo from that session. . . I need to see that photo again!

[jazzbo]

Ah. . . it could well be a National I think, and you can see strings in this one!

[jazzbo]

Man I wish this picture could say a thousand "notes" . . .

[jazzbo]

[jazzbo]

It's cool to see "Mr. Keynote" Harry Lim in these photos!

Edited April 4, 2005 by jazzbo

[Bright Moments]

Man I wish this picture could say a thousand "notes" . . .

that's chic webb on drums right?!

[jazzbo]

Sure is!

[Mark J]

Thanks for the cool pix Lon!!! I don't think I've ever seen those photos, nor a photo of Harry Lim! What is going on in those photos? Duke with the Condon gang? Max? Bud? That's a record I'd like to hear! The guitar sure has the National style, though it doesn't look like a steel guitar.

[jazzbo]

Hi Mark,

I thought I knew more about this, here's what I've learned from one of the photos captions online:

private jam session, NYC, August 1939

[mr jazz]

Try to find the Dreyfus Jazz collection titled Ko-Ko. Best sounding Blanton-Webster period music available, IMO.

Edited April 4, 2005 by mr jazz