Ellington-a-thon

[carnivore]

Yes, it was included on "A Night at the Cotton Club." Does anyone else want to just slap Irving Mills for his hokey, patronizing narration on this record?

Yes, annoying. Any worse than Symphony Sid or Pee Wee Marquette?

This sort of hyperbolic presentation of 'stars' seemed to be pretty standard then; I'm not sure much has changed now in the celebrity world.

In a perverse way I've always rather liked Irving's shout 'Take it away, Dukie' - a refreshing antidote to the almost religious reverence that has been coming from some quarters over the past decade.

[Clunky]

Rockin in Rhythm was my introduction to Ellington, Peter Clayton played the version on Piano in the Background on Jazz Records Request BBC Radio 3 some time in 1986/7 , that plus the sound track to the Singing Detective which features an earlier version ( need to check which). The version on Piano in the Background starts with Kinda Dukish before sliding into the familiar tune. Always thought it odd that an album called Piano in the Background should feature the piano quite so prominently !!

The Brunswick version is my preferred one.

[jeffcrom]

Yes, it was included on "A Night at the Cotton Club." Does anyone else want to just slap Irving Mills for his hokey, patronizing narration on this record?

Yes, annoying. Any worse than Symphony Sid or Pee Wee Marquette?

This sort of hyperbolic presentation of 'stars' seemed to be pretty standard then; I'm not sure much has changed now in the celebrity world.

In a perverse way I've always rather liked Irving's shout 'Take it away, Dukie' - a refreshing antidote to the almost religious reverence that has been coming from some quarters over the past decade.

Maybe I've been reading too much into Mills' introductions on these sides. To me, they've always seemed to have an element of condescending paternalism. But maybe that's just me.

[jeffcrom]

"Rockin' in Rhythm" changed very little through the years, in its fundamentals, at least. The piano introduction got more extended, and the ending got more elaborate and melodramatic, but the meat of the arrangement stayed the same for 43 years, and that's because it swung so hard as written. As Ellington's rhythm sections became more modern over the years, "Rockin' in Rhythm" did too, without any updates. Besides the intro and ending, the only major change in later years was the addition of 16 bars for the "Pep Section" - two trumpets and a trombone with plunger mutes - after the trombone solo; this was a sound Ellington used a lot.

Album notes usually attribute the clarinet solo on the early versions to Barney Bigard, but I'm not so sure. In later years, Harry Carney took the clarinet solo, and I suspect that it was him from the beginning. I've seen Bigard credited with other clarinet solos that I know to be Carney, and, after all, Carney is given co-composer credit on "Rockin' in Rhythm."

I'll take that Paris version on Atlantic. Not too much anywhere swings harder than that.

Hell, yes! This version is the apex of "Rockin' in Rhythm," and probably the hardest swinging five and one half minutes in Ellingtonia.

[AllenLowe]

that Paris concert is amazing - also has Ray Nance playing a LONG fiddle solo on the suite based on John Steinbeck, as I recall.

[lipi]

that Paris concert is amazing - also has Ray Nance playing a LONG fiddle solo on the suite based on John Steinbeck, as I recall.

Which CD release of this do you guys recommend? I see a Collectables, an "Avex Trax", and an M&I Japan on Amazon. Are they all more or less straight copies of each other or do some have NoNoise hideousness?

[AllenLowe]

I would tend to avoid any Collectables reissue, but I don't know what is the best current available CD of the Paris concert.

[jeffcrom]

that Paris concert is amazing - also has Ray Nance playing a LONG fiddle solo on the suite based on John Steinbeck, as I recall.

Which CD release of this do you guys recommend? I see a Collectables, an "Avex Trax", and an M&I Japan on Amazon. Are they all more or less straight copies of each other or do some have NoNoise hideousness?

I've got the 1989 Atlantic issue - the first CD issue. I've always assumed that the Collectables was a straight copy of the Atlantic.

[AllenLowe]

that's the one I've got too - Collectables, however, did some absolutely horrible remastering. They ruined the Atlantic catalog, and I've got a Della Reese they destroyed.

[Chuck Nessa]

that Paris concert is amazing - also has Ray Nance playing a LONG fiddle solo on the suite based on John Steinbeck, as I recall.

Which CD release of this do you guys recommend? I see a Collectables, an "Avex Trax", and an M&I Japan on Amazon. Are they all more or less straight copies of each other or do some have NoNoise hideousness?

I've got the 1989 Atlantic issue - the first CD issue. I've always assumed that the Collectables was a straight copy of the Atlantic.

The '89 Atlantic package adds the Reprise lp called something like Greatest Hits Live and the Collectables is a straight reissue of the 2 lp Atlantic set.

The horrible Collectables reissues are long in the past. More recent titles are very fine.

[jeffcrom]

The '89 Atlantic package adds the Reprise lp called something like Greatest Hits Live and the Collectables is a straight reissue of the 2 lp Atlantic set.

The horrible Collectables reissues are long in the past. More recent titles are very fine.

Too bad the Collectables doesn't include the Reprise album - it's a lot more interesting than you'd think, given that it was intended as a greatest hits collection.

[Guy Berger]

The first version of RiR I ever heard was Weather Report's.

[JSngry]

And that's a pretty damn good one, too, I think.

[A Lark Ascending]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXfeSLpGXzI

You can hear Richard Thompson's arrangement for guitar, mandolin plus light bass and drums here.

Yeah, it's not the real thing, but I wish I could play it on guitar like that!

Ignore the pictures - it's just a random slideshow of people playing guitars.

Edited October 10, 2010 by A Lark Ascending

[jeffcrom]

Tonight I listened to Steve Lacy's "Rockin' in Rhythm" for the first time in a while. It's from his first album, Soprano Sax, from 1957. It's certainly not the masterful performance that Lacy would have been able to give three or four years later, but it's still pretty good. Lacy and his quartet keep as much of Ellington's material as possible with four pieces, but the solos (by Lacy and Wynton Kelly) don't sound Ellingtonian at all - and I like that; Lacy and Kelly just sound like themselves.

Lacy is so well known as an interpreter of Monk that it's often forgotten that Ellington was one of his earliest sources of inspiration. Soprano Sax includes two Ellington tunes, as does another of Lacy's early Prestige albums, Evidence. One of his duet albums with Mal Waldron is an all Ellington/Strayhorn program (Sempre Amore), and late in his life he developed a solo program of Ellington's music he called "10 of Duke's" - issued on the Senators album 10 of Dukes + 6 Originals. I'll definitely be talking about Lacy's Ellington interpretations when appropriate in this thread.

Edited October 12, 2010 by jeffcrom

[A Lark Ascending]

Tonight I listened to Steve Lacy's "Rockin' in Rhythm" for the first time in a while. It's from his first album, Soprano Sax, from 1957.

Good suggestion - will play that later tonight. Reminded me to also find my LP of the WSQ Ellington album and transfer it. Has a couple of versions of 'Take the A Train', scheduled to pull in here on Saturday!

Edited October 12, 2010 by A Lark Ascending

[Chuck Nessa]

Lacy is so well known as an interpreter of Monk that it's often forgotten that Ellington was one of his earliest sources of inspiration. Soprano Sax includes two Ellington tunes, as does another of Lacy's early Prestige albums, Evidence.

Earlier Lacy played Johnny Come Lately with Cecil Taylor at Newport.

[jeffcrom]

Back to "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" for a moment - Historically Speaking arrived today, and this is indeed a fine version of the piece. Note-wise, it's pretty close to the original version(s), but it's played slowly - very dark and moody.

[EKE BBB]

Back to RiR, and as a mere statistical curiosity, the New DESOR lists about 330 recorded performances by Duke Ellington (with or without the orchestra), including unissued performances, alternative takes... about 80% from the 60s and beyond.

[papsrus]

Back to "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" for a moment - Historically Speaking arrived today, and this is indeed a fine version of the piece. Note-wise, it's pretty close to the original version(s), but it's played slowly - very dark and moody.

I really enjoy the slower tempo version(s) as well. Will check out 'Historically Speaking.'

[A Lark Ascending]

Another mixed bag:

Ellington-a-thon: 4

• Ain’t Misbehavin - [Fats Waller-Harry Brooks/Andy Razaf] - 1929
  
• Charlie The Chulo [Ellington] - 1940
  
• Never No Lament (Don’t Get Around Much Anymore) - [Ellington] - 1942
  
• Fugue-a-ditti (Fugue)- [Ellington] - 1945
  
• Give Me The Right [Robert Mellin-Al Frisch] - 1953
  
• Blue Jean Beguine - [Cat Anderson] - 1953
  
• Goin’ To Chicago [Count Basie/Jimmy Rushing] - 1960
  
• Babsie - [Alice Babs] - 1963
  
• Blood Count - [billy Strayhorn] - 1967
  
• Elos -[Ellington] - 1968
  

Might change the approach here - grouping several from the same session together, perhaps 4 or 5 from a 30s and similar from a 60s. Might make it easier to find the tracks and comment on what was going on. Any suggestions?

Edited October 13, 2010 by A Lark Ascending

[jeffcrom]

"Elos" is probably pretty obscure, but it's a truly beautiful piece of music. It comes from the period when Ellington gave his pieces working titles of four letters; sometimes he came up with a better title, but the working title often became the final name. "Elos" is "soul" backwards, kinda - at least that's what Ellington had in mind. It was apparently written for a film which never came out, and was later used as part of the Three Black Kings suite. It seems to have been recorded only once - it was issued on Volume 9 of that great "Private Collection" series.

"Elos" is a moody piece in 3/4 or 6/4 - it sounds like six to me, but that's more or less a technical distinction. It's written for the trombone and reed sections of the band, along with bass and drums. The most stiking element is Ellington's juxtaposition of his two tenor saxophonists - Harold Ashby plays the slow, drawn-out melody while Paul Gonzalves improvises around it. There are also short solos by Johnny Hodges and Buster Cooper, with a touch of Russell Procope's clarinet at the end.

Like I say, it's a really beautiful piece. If it had been released on an album during Ellington's lifetime, I'll bet it would have received some acclaim. As it is, it's an obscure curiosity.

[lipi]

edit: Shoot. I was thinking of "Things Ain't What They Used to Be", not "Don't Get around Much Anymore" when I wrote the thing below. Sorry 'bout that.

My favourite is one of the Cote d'Azur concert versions. I don't have my CDs handy right now, but I know there are two takes on the 8-disc Ella & Duke set. One has a slightly fumbled piano intro, the other one doesn't. They're both excellent.

I don't know if it's of interest to anyone here, but it turns out that lindy hoppers love dancing to those two tracks. Nice slow tempo and an excellent rhythm, somewhere between "driving" like the old Basie band and "grooving" like Ray Brown and Gene Harris and folks of that ilk.

It's one of those melodies I find myself humming a lot for no particularly good reason: badabedoDEE-BA-doo-dah...

Edited October 14, 2010 by alex.

[JSngry]

• Blood Count - [billy Strayhorn] - 1967

Can't say that I see any sense in anybody else trying to play this one, not really, not as long as that recording can be heard.

[Hot Ptah]

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.

Lacy is so well known as an interpreter of Monk that it's often forgotten that Ellington was one of his earliest sources of inspiration. Soprano Sax includes two Ellington tunes, as does another of Lacy's early Prestige albums, Evidence.

Earlier Lacy played Johnny Come Lately with Cecil Taylor at Newport.

When I saw Lacy live in duet with Danilo Perez, he played "Morning Glory", with much feeling.

• Blood Count - [billy Strayhorn] - 1967

Can't say that I see any sense in anybody else trying to play this one, not really, not as long as that recording can be heard.

Except that Stan Getz did a great version on his 1987 live album "Anniversary" (with Kenny Barron).

Edited October 14, 2010 by Hot Ptah