Ellington-a-thon

[jeffcrom]

Ellington-a-thon 17 (April 6th, 2013)

• Frustration 1944

"Frustration" is one of my favorite Harry Carney features by Ellington. Ellington presented it at concerts in the second half of the 1940s and in the early 1950s, but as far as I know, it didn't receive a studio recording until the 1956 Duke Ellington Presents... album on Bethlehem. There's a fabulous live version from the following year, from the Carrolltown, Pennsylvania All Star Road Band dance.

"Frustration" is in the perfect baritone sax key, D flat. D flat is the lowest note on older baritone saxes, and Ellington makes good use of that lowest note. But Carney sounds fabulous in the high register, too. There are other baritone players (like Serge Chaloff) that I would rank above Carney in terms of improvisatory ability, but none whose sound I prefer over Carney's.

In typical Ellington fashion, the piece's structure is unusual and logical at the same time. Some of the sections sound as if they contain an unusual number of measures, but when you count them - lo and behold; they're the usual eight-measure length. Bravo, Duke and Harry.

[jeffcrom]

No one commented on my previous post:

Going back to "Rockin' In Rhythm", I find the version which opens the "70th Birthday Concert" album to be quite exciting. That album is a favorite of mine in general.

Has anyone else heard "70th Birthday Concert", and if so, what are your opinions?

Yes, I own it and generally I like it. The performance is very good. I must say that I find some of the newer Ducal compostions on it not quite as substantial as his earlier works (eg. The Great Paris Concert from '63, probably my favorite live performance by the Ellington band).

I agree. It was a good concert (I wish I had been there!), but it's not among my favorite Ellington albums. The version of "Rockin' in Rhythm" is very hot, but not quite as good as the Paris version. Part of the difference, to my ears, is that Rufus Jones wasn't as good a drummer as Sam Woodyard.

I listened to the 70th Birthday Concert album again recently, and I've got to say that this version of "Rockin' In Rhythm" went up in my estimation. It does indeed rival the 1963 Paris version.

[jeffcrom]

"Frustration" is one of my favorite Harry Carney features by Ellington. Ellington presented it at concerts in the second half of the 1940s and in the early 1950s, but as far as I know, it didn't receive a studio recording until the 1956 Duke Ellington Presents... album on Bethlehem.

I forgot about the 1945 World Transcription recording - not for a commercial record, but a radio broadcast-only recording.

[Hot Ptah]

No one commented on my previous post:

Going back to "Rockin' In Rhythm", I find the version which opens the "70th Birthday Concert" album to be quite exciting. That album is a favorite of mine in general.

Has anyone else heard "70th Birthday Concert", and if so, what are your opinions?

Yes, I own it and generally I like it. The performance is very good. I must say that I find some of the newer Ducal compostions on it not quite as substantial as his earlier works (eg. The Great Paris Concert from '63, probably my favorite live performance by the Ellington band).

I agree. It was a good concert (I wish I had been there!), but it's not among my favorite Ellington albums. The version of "Rockin' in Rhythm" is very hot, but not quite as good as the Paris version. Part of the difference, to my ears, is that Rufus Jones wasn't as good a drummer as Sam Woodyard.

I listened to the 70th Birthday Concert album again recently, and I've got to say that this version of "Rockin' In Rhythm" went up in my estimation. It does indeed rival the 1963 Paris version.

All right! You must be brilliant in your musical analysis, because you agreed with me!

[Hot Ptah]

Lonely Co Ed 1939

I have always liked this song, for the lyrics, which are so sad that they are funny, and for the way that Ivie Anderson delivers them--again, she presents the song as feeling so sorry for herself that it enters the realm of humor--whether intentional or unintentional, I am not sure. What adds to the humor for me is that the character is so detached from any life which could really be tragic. As a young student, the character's deep woes could disappear the next day if she got a date or went to a fun sorority party.

Ellington-a-thon 17 (April 6th, 2013)

• Frustration 1944

"Frustration" is one of my favorite Harry Carney features by Ellington. Ellington presented it at concerts in the second half of the 1940s and in the early 1950s, but as far as I know, it didn't receive a studio recording until the 1956 Duke Ellington Presents... album on Bethlehem. There's a fabulous live version from the following year, from the Carrolltown, Pennsylvania All Star Road Band dance.

"Frustration" is in the perfect baritone sax key, D flat. D flat is the lowest note on older baritone saxes, and Ellington makes good use of that lowest note. But Carney sounds fabulous in the high register, too. There are other baritone players (like Serge Chaloff) that I would rank above Carney in terms of improvisatory ability, but none whose sound I prefer over Carney's.

In typical Ellington fashion, the piece's structure is unusual and logical at the same time. Some of the sections sound as if they contain an unusual number of measures, but when you count them - lo and behold; they're the usual eight-measure length. Bravo, Duke and Harry.

Yes! A really good version does indeed appear on "All Star Road Band", which is such a vital, energized album.

Edited April 18, 2013 by Hot Ptah

[Hot Ptah]

Ellington-a-thon 16

• Black Swan 1969

I know that Bev has gone on to installment 17, but there's plenty of interesting items left in #16.

"Black Swan" was played during Ellington's 1969 European tour as an encore, and presumably as a chance for most of the brass and reed players to rest. The only issued version I'm aware of is from the Manchester concert that provides the bulk of the 70th Birthday Concert album.

It's an interesting tune - Latin-rhythmed and utilizing an attractive, unusual chord progression. The Manchester version is played by a quintet - Ellington, Wild Bill Davis on organ, Norris Turney on flute, bassist Victor Gaskin, and Rufus Jones on drums. Everyone except Ellington gets solos; Turney's flute is particularly impressive, as is the drum solo - Jones concentrates on the cymbals and makes frequent references to the melody, a la Max Roach.

"Black Swan" is a good one - I would have liked to hear a full-band version by Ellington.

That version on "70th Birthday Concert" is relaxed and beautiful, and is a really different sound for Ellington.

[jeffcrom]

Ellington-a-thon 17 (April 6th, 2013)

• REMINISCING IN TEMPO 1935

"Reminiscing in Tempo" was Ellington's second "extended" work, after "Creole Rhapsody." The 1935 studio recording was 13 minutes long, spread across four 10" 78 RPM sides. I don't know if it was performed live around the time of its recording, but there were brief revivals in 1945, when it showed up in one of his Treasury broadcasts, and 1948, when it was played and recorded at concerts at Carnegie Hall and Cornell University.

Ellington said that he composed "Reminiscing in Tempo" in response to his mother's death, but there is nothing overtly elegiac about the piece, which is in medium swing tempo throughout. There is, maybe, a slightly melancholy flavor hanging over the composition, but that's in the ear of the behearer. The best-sounding issue, not surprisingly, is on the Mosaic 1932-1940 set, but I wish they hadn't been so scrupulous about splitting the four original sides into four separate tracks. I hear the piece as a seamless whole, and the division into four parts is an annoyance which was dictated by the technology of the time. Even though the sound is not as good, I've kept my 1991 Columbia/Legacy Reminiscing in Tempo album largely because the title piece is edited into one continuous track. The 1948 concert recordings mentioned above are also valuable, since they, too, present "RIT" in unbroken form. (I haven't heard the 1945 recording.)

So that's the background. As for the the music, I've got to say that "Reminiscing in Tempo" is a piece I can admire, but have never been able to love. It's certainly a piece which hangs together well as a composition. But that compositional "tightness" comes at a price - there's too little variety, and too little color here. I have often expressed amazement at Ellington's mastery of sonority, but "RIT" is one of his most monochromatic compositions. I usually hate the word "boring" when it's applied to music, because I think it says more about the listener who uses it than about the music. But I wouldn't fault anyone for calling "Reminiscing in Tempo" boring. That's not quite my response, but I get it.

But Ellington was still learning how to write longer pieces. By the time he wrote "The Tattooed Bride" thirteen or so years later, he had it down - that piece is as tightly composed as "Reminiscing in Tempo," but far more varied, colorful, and listenable. "RIT" was probably a necessary step in Ellington's development as a composer.

Edited April 24, 2013 by jeffcrom

[jeffcrom]

Ellington-a-thon 16

• Black And Tan Fantasy 1927

Happy Birthday, Duke Ellington!

Since no one has jumped in to talk about "Black and Tan Fantasy".... This is one of Ellington's earliest masterpieces - one of those pieces that first defined the Ellington sound. It's co-credited to Bubber Miley, who presumably came up with the main theme, an adaptation of the hymn "The Holy City."

All of Ellington's early recordings of "Black and Tan" are pretty similar in outline. On the two earliest, for Brunswick and Victor, Miley and Tricky Sam Nanton harmonize on the theme, which turns the hymn into a twelve-bar blues. Most of rest of the piece is a series of blues solos, by Miley, Nanton, and Ellington. Between the first theme and Miley's solo there is contrasting secondary theme, presumably Ellington's work, played by Otto Hardwick. It's a repeated eight bar melody, and it sounds pretty corny compared to the blues theme. It never reappears, although to my ears, Ellington manages to suggest it in his solo, which is sweeter than the other blues solos.

The October, 1927 Victor version is better than the May Brunswick version for several reasons, notably for Miley's exquisite, perfectly controlled long note with which he opens his solo. The Okeh version, from November, is interesting because Miley was absent (hung over or in jail?), and Jabbo Smith substitutes for him. Jabbo's plunger mute style is very different; more fantastic and freewheeling, perhaps, but not as expressive/emotional as Miley's. Ellington gives Nanton the "long note" solo, I assume because his style was closer to Miley's than was Jabbo's.

Ellington was still using the same basic outline in 1930, when he recorded the piece for the related Velvetone/Diva labels, but by this time Miley was out of the band, replaced by Cootie Williams. The impact of Williams' playing falls somewhere between Miley and Jabbo Smith, to my ears; it's strong playing, but more lighthearted than Miley's. Hardwick has also left the band, and Harry Carney (on alto) presents the second theme; he seems to treat it a little more seriously than does Hardwick, if that makes any sense.

"Black and Tan Fantasy" stayed in the book until the end, and later versions showed Ellington's efforts to update it while retaining the flavor of the original. The 1938 Brunswick version is slow and majestic, with some very nice updated harmonies. By this time Cootie's interpretation is magnificent. Hardwick is back to play the second theme; it's still is something of a letdown and still doesn't reappear. My favorite moment is Barney Bigard's long, slow glissando over Nanton's trombone solo. It's almost painful, but in a good way.

I also like the 1943 Carnegie Hall version, which is even slower (except for Ellington's sprightly piano solo) than the 1938 version, and the 1966 recording from The Popular Duke Ellington album. In some ways, the 1966 version is closer to the original arrangement than most of the intervening recordings. We're back to a simple presentation of the main theme by trumpet and trombone in harmony, for instance. And this is my favorite treatment of the second theme yet - it's played by Carney on baritone, and his sound and style lend weight and gravity, as do the imaginative reed saxophone/clarinet chords behind him.

I realize that I haven't mentioned the quote from Chopin's Funeral March which ends the piece. It could sound stupid, coming off like a joke, but it doesn't. It's the perfect elegiac coda to a wonderful piece of music.

Edited April 30, 2013 by jeffcrom

[marcello]

Jeff, just a quick thank you from me ( and I'm sure I speak for others here) for your very interesting and very insightful notes on these recordings. It's much appreciated and enjoyed by this boy.

Oh yeah, thank you too, Bev!

[Teasing the Korean]

Returned by popular request:

Ellington-a-thon 15

• You Gave Me The Gate ( . . . And I’m Swinging)

For what it's worth, Duke didn't write this tune. It was written by Jim Farmer and J.B. McNeely. Duke's name, and that of the publisher, were added to the credits, as was common at the time.

[jeffcrom]

Jeff, just a quick thank you from me ( and I'm sure I speak for others here) for your very interesting and very insightful notes on these recordings. It's much appreciated and enjoyed by this boy.

Oh yeah, thank you too, Bev!

Thank you, Marcello. As you can tell, I've really enjoyed this thread. Thanks to Bev for starting and continuing it.

[jeffcrom]

Ellington-a-thon 17 (April 6th, 2013)

some odd ones that I don't have dates for:

• Woods

This drove me crazy, a little bit. I remembered reading about it, and thought I had recording of it somewhere. Well, not really. "Woods" was apparently a very late Ellington composition, and was nominally the penultimate piece on the 1973 Eastbourne Performance album. Except that piece is apparently not "Woods," no matter what the cover says. From the book of the massive Centennial Edition box set:

With this reissue, an error is being corrected. The selection identified on the Eastbourne LP as "Woods" is not that piece. There is no known recording of "Woods," which [Art] Baron, Vince Prudente, Barrie Lee Hall and Harold Ashby all agree is a very pretty foxtrot for the saxophone section with Chuck Connors playing lead on bass trombone and an occasional solo by Paul Gonsalves. "It's mostly just a lovely ensemble piece that we played for dances," declares Prudente.

The piece on Eastbourne Performance is actually "Soso," another example of the four-letter working titles that Ellington gave his pieces. "Soso" is very nice "rhythm changes" piece with some imaginative ensemble scoring, like the odd lengths of the trumpet notes in the last eight of the first chorus. After that first chorus it becomes a tenor battle between Harold Ashby and Percy Marion, and it's an enjoyable duel. (Paul Gonsalves was absent for health reasons, whatever that means.)

So I can't really talk about "Woods," but there's a bit about the piece issued as "Woods."

Edited July 24, 2013 by jeffcrom

[jeffcrom]

Ellington-a-thon 17 (April 6th, 2013)

some odd ones that I don't have dates for:

• Woods

This drove me crazy, a little bit. I remembered reading about it, and thought I had recording of it somewhere. Well, not really. "Woods" was apparently a very late Ellington composition, and was nominally the penultimate piece on the 1973 Eastbourne Performance album. Except that piece is apparently not "Woods," no matter what the cover says. From the book of the massive Centennial Edition box set:

With this reissue, an error is being corrected. The selection identified on the Eastbourne LP as "Woods" is not that piece. There is no known recording of "Woods," which [Art] Baron, Vince Prudente, Barrie Lee Hall and Harold Ashby all agree is a very pretty foxtrot for the saxophone section with Chuck Connors playing lead on bass trombone and an occasional solo by Paul Gonsalves. "It's mostly just a lovely ensemble piece that we played for dances," declares Prudente.

The piece on Eastbourne Performance is actually "Soso," another example of the four-letter working titles that Ellington gave his pieces. "Soso" is very nice "rhythm changes" piece with some imaginative ensemble scoring, like the odd lengths of the trumpet notes in the last eight of the first chorus. After that first chorus it becomes a tenor battle between Harold Ashby and Percy Marion, and it's an enjoyable duel. (Paul Gonsalves was absent for health reasons, whatever that means.)

So I can't really talk about "Woods," but there's a bit about the piece issued as "Woods."

As it turns out, "Woods" was recorded in August, 1972, with a six-piece reed section: Russell Procope, Harold Minerve, Norris Turney, Harold Ashby, Paul Gonsalves, and Harry Carney. It was released on the MusicMasters/Jazz Heritage Society CD Never-Before-Released Recordings (1965-1972). It fits the description above, except that Ellington is the soloist, not Gonsalves. Stanley Dance's liner notes state that Woods "was written as a background to one of Duke Ellington's most popular songs, but he liked it so much that he often presented it as an instrumental in 1973." It sounds like it's based on the chord changes of "I've Got it Bad." It's faster than that ballad - a nice, danceable tempo. "Woods" is an attractive, simple little piece.

Edited July 24, 2013 by jeffcrom

[ghost of miles]

On 4/18/2013 at 9:41 AM, Hot Ptah said:

"Frustration" is one of my favorite Harry Carney features by Ellington. Ellington presented it at concerts in the second half of the 1940s and in the early 1950s, but as far as I know, it didn't receive a studio recording until the 1956 Duke Ellington Presents... album on Bethlehem. There's a fabulous live version from the following year, from the Carrolltown, Pennsylvania All Star Road Band dance.

 

 

It was actually recorded under Ellington's name in late 1947/early 48 for Norman Granz's Jazz Scene set.  Ellington's credited as arranger for the session, but it's Billy Strayhorn who plays piano.  Fred Guy guitar, Oscar Pettiford bass, Sonny Greer drums, unknown strings, so it's really more an Ellington small-group date.  There was a transcription recording of it with the full Ellington orchestra in 1945 as well.  One of my favorite Carney features too!  

[Kingpin5]