Ellington-a-thon

[Guy Berger]

Charles Lloyd also has a great version.

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).

[A Lark Ascending]

The 1967 Blood Count is of course astounding.

But it's such a good tune (or maybe just a delicious chord sequence) that I'm glad others have tried it.

Just played alongside the Joe Henderson version off his 1992 Billy Strayhorn album, 'Lush Life'. Lovely version. Interesting to hear him play it in the higher register, hardly using the deeper characteristics of tenor. Might confirm how firmly Hodges had put his stamp on it.

[jeffcrom]

According to the Lord discography, Ellington recorded "Ain't Misbehavin'" three times. The one I haven't heard is a 1933 recording made for British Decca during his first British tour. He made a radio transcription of the tune in 1943 that's available on a Circle CD. It's a feature for trumpeter Harold "Shorty" Baker, who is really tasty. The background arrangement is nice, too - there's a cool clarinet trio - but Ellington probably dashed it off in a few minutes.

The Ellington "Ain't Misbehavin'" that's a real hoot was not known to be an Ellington recording for many years. It was recorded in 1929 by Bill Robinson, accompanied by Irving Mills and His Hotsy Totsy Gang, which turns out in this case to be the Ellington orchestra. Like I say, it's a hoot. Bojangles does some fine tap dancing and does a spirited vocal, in spite of the fact that he doesn't know the words. This one is on the Decca/GRP Early Ellington set.

Edited October 15, 2010 by jeffcrom

[JSngry]

My opinion about "Blood Count" is based on my perception of it as being intended as an orchestral piece, not a "song" open for interpretation. Of course, there have been some fine interpretations of it as a "song", but none have captured the full...essence of the piece, which is programmatic like a mofo...you can hear Strayhorn working his way through all the stages of grief, ending in a final "giving up the ghost". And lord have mercy, Hodges isn't just reading the melody, he's giving voice, damn near literally, to all this, as is the band.

Truly, I think it's one of the most...yeah, astounding contemplations of mortality and its impending final resolution as we've had, ever. I can't help but feel that other perfomances of it as a "song", nice, even beautiful, as they might be, just don't go there, not even a little bit, and I wonder why people would even try to do it.

Then again, I've tried playing the tune myself, the temptation is real, it's such a powerful piece, but geez, it only took a few attempts before I came to the conclusion that there are plenty of other "gorgeous songs" to play, so...let's just leave this one be as it is. It's one of those few things in music that I gotta hold as "sacred", if you know what I mean.

My choice, of course, and my opinion, only.

[jeffcrom]

My opinion about "Blood Count"

Beautiful post.

[JSngry]

Thanks, and if you want to get "technical" about it, it's really not written to played on a tenor...the fingerings and the necessary inflections don't yield as readily as they do for an alto...you could change the key, but...no.

[jeffcrom]

Well, nobody's touched Fugue-a-ditty/Fugueaditty/Fugaditti/Fugue (I've seen all of these titles) yet, so I'll jump in. It was the second movement of A Tonal Group, a suite consisting of Melloditti, Fugue-a-ditty, and Jam-a-Ditty, that Ellington played at some of his 1946 concert appearances. Only "Jam-a-Ditty" seemed to have "legs" - Ellington recorded that piece in the studio for Musicraft.

I really want to like "Fugue-a-Ditty." As far as I can tell, it follows the "rules" of a classical fugue to the letter. It's intriguing, as far as it goes. But just when Bach (or John Lewis, for that matter) would have been getting warmed up, it just stops. I get the feeling that once Ellington went through the "correct" steps a couple of times, he didn't know what else to do, so he wound it up.

The movement I want to explore further is "Melloditti." It's over twice as long as the other movements, and there's a lot going on. I'll need to listen a few more times before I can really digest it.

The two concert recordings I have of A Tonal Group are from Carnegie Hall and Chicago, both from January, 1946. To get personal for a moment, I stuck the Christmas gift tag from the wrapping paper onto the jewel case of the Carnegie Hall set. It was one of my last Christmas presents from my late mom.

Edited October 15, 2010 by jeffcrom

[A Lark Ascending]

My opinion about "Blood Count" is based on my perception of it as being intended as an orchestral piece, not a "song" open for interpretation. Of course, there have been some fine interpretations of it as a "song", but none have captured the full...essence of the piece, which is programmatic like a mofo...you can hear Strayhorn working his way through all the stages of grief, ending in a final "giving up the ghost". And lord have mercy, Hodges isn't just reading the melody, he's giving voice, damn near literally, to all this, as is the band.

Truly, I think it's one of the most...yeah, astounding contemplations of mortality and its impending final resolution as we've had, ever. I can't help but feel that other perfomances of it as a "song", nice, even beautiful, as they might be, just don't go there, not even a little bit, and I wonder why people would even try to do it.

Then again, I've tried playing the tune myself, the temptation is real, it's such a powerful piece, but geez, it only took a few attempts before I came to the conclusion that there are plenty of other "gorgeous songs" to play, so...let's just leave this one be as it is. It's one of those few things in music that I gotta hold as "sacred", if you know what I mean.

My choice, of course, and my opinion, only.

Oh, I understand your take on it. But I think you know by now that my approach to listening is somewhat more prosaic. So I'm hearing it possibly in a more detached way.

Thanks, and if you want to get "technical" about it, it's really not written to played on a tenor...the fingerings and the necessary inflections don't yield as readily as they do for an alto...you could change the key, but...no.

Interesting. Though you might argue that you are less likely to get something that simply tries to revisit the emotion by playing it on something other. Lots of examples in jazz of music designed for one instrument, line-up etc that takes on a very different but equally interesting shape when played on different instruments or groups of instruments.

For me, I heard the Henderson before I knew the Ellington (I think...I may just not have noticed it on an earlier compilation). I can see why hearing the Ellington first might make other versions sound pale by comparison.

Am currently playing the Stan Getz 'Anniversary' album above, waiting for 'Blood Count' at the end.

[Hot Ptah]

Well, nobody's touched Fugue-a-ditty/Fugueaditty/Fugaditti/Fugue (I've seen all of these titles) yet, so I'll jump in. It was the second movement of A Tonal Group, a suite consisting of Melloditti, Fugue-a-ditty, and Jam-a-Ditty, that Ellington played at some of his 1946 concert appearances. Only "Jam-a-Ditty" seemed to have "legs" - Ellington recorded that piece in the studio for Musicraft.

I really want to like "Fugue-a-Ditty." As far as I can tell, it follows the "rules" of a classical fugue to the letter. It's intriguing, as far as it goes. But just when Bach (or John Lewis, for that matter) would have been getting warmed up, it just stops. I get the feeling that once Ellington went through the "correct" steps a couple of times, he didn't know what else to do, so he wound it up.

The movement I want to explore further is "Melloditti." It's over twice as long as the other movements, and there's a lot going on. I'll need to listen a few more times before I can really digest it.

The two concert recordings I have of A Tonal Group are from Carnegie Hall and Chicago, both from January, 1946. To get personal for a moment, I stuck the Christmas gift tag from the wrapping paper onto the jewel case of the Carnegie Hall set. It was one of my last Christmas presents from my late mom.

Jam-A-Ditty is the opening cut on the Prestige two-fer reissue from the 1970s, "The Golden Duke". I always thought it was a compelling opener, rather exciting.

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?

[papsrus]

My opinion about "Blood Count" is based on my perception of it as being intended as an orchestral piece, not a "song" open for interpretation. Of course, there have been some fine interpretations of it as a "song", but none have captured the full...essence of the piece. ...

Oh, I understand your take on it. But I think you know by now that my approach to listening is somewhat more prosaic. So I'm hearing it possibly in a more detached way.

'Blood Count': A beautiful song. That it was Strayhorn's last piece for Ellington makes it all the more so. I'm generally in the 'more the merrier' camp as far as different versions of a tune go. But I find the songs on that album -- bonus tracks and all -- difficult to separate from the whole. I put it on last night with the intention of stopping after 'Blood Count' and couldn't.

Not to sidetrack too much, but for me perhaps the most poignant piece on that album is Ellington's solo version of 'Lotus Blossom,' complete with sounds of the band packing up in the studio in the background.

'Never No Lament': From the Blanton-Webster box. The soloists, yes. The orchestra, yes. But the thing that really grabs me about this tune is the quiet, steady propulsion of Blanton. Has that 'floating' quality.

[A Lark Ascending]

Blood Count: Stan Getz

Listening to that lovely version got me thinking. He clearly loved the tune. And I suspect the audience at the event loved the performance, many maybe unaware of the original; similarly, listeners to the CD. In those circumstances the tune takes on a different meaning from those who know its original provenance. Whilst I find the context of the original of great interest, it doesn't make me want to rewrite my own personal listening history to give it a 'sacred' status.

But, as I said before, I can see how those who came to it first via the original recording might have such a reverential feeling towards it. I would argue that the 'sacredness' is someting applied to it, not inherent...but this thread is not the place for that debate!

Never No Lament

Surprised this wasn't jumped on. I love that 1940, mid-tempo recording with wonderful Hodges but also some beautiful Cootie Williams and Lawrence Brown.

Also played two vocal versions ('Don't Get Around Much Anymore'). A very nice Kenny Burrell version on his first 'Ellington is Forever' disc with one Ernie Andrews doing a very (to these ears) 'Southern' vocal. And the magnificent Ella version on the Ellington Songbook set with Burrell again + Ben Webster and Stuff Smith. Sort of resigned loneliness - not deep blues but hardly happy!

[JSngry]

I would argue that the 'sacredness' is someting applied to it, not inherent...but this thread is not the place for that debate!

Oh, I agree with that 100%. But we all make choices in this life, ya' know, and that's been one of mine.

[Hot Ptah]

Never No Lament is for me one of Duke's really great songs. I did not comment because it is like commenting on Mood Indigo--what more could I say about it? The Blanton/Webster version cannot be beat, for me--it is a Hall of Fame recording.

I agree that the solo piano version of "Lotus Blossom" at the end of the album is truly memorable.

[kh1958]

When Stan Getz appeared at the Caravan of Dreams, he played both Blood Count and U.M.M.G.--both were gorgeous performances.

[John Tapscott]

Well, nobody's touched Fugue-a-ditty/Fugueaditty/Fugaditti/Fugue (I've seen all of these titles) yet, so I'll jump in. It was the second movement of A Tonal Group, a suite consisting of Melloditti, Fugue-a-ditty, and Jam-a-Ditty, that Ellington played at some of his 1946 concert appearances. Only "Jam-a-Ditty" seemed to have "legs" - Ellington recorded that piece in the studio for Musicraft.

I really want to like "Fugue-a-Ditty." As far as I can tell, it follows the "rules" of a classical fugue to the letter. It's intriguing, as far as it goes. But just when Bach (or John Lewis, for that matter) would have been getting warmed up, it just stops. I get the feeling that once Ellington went through the "correct" steps a couple of times, he didn't know what else to do, so he wound it up.

The movement I want to explore further is "Melloditti." It's over twice as long as the other movements, and there's a lot going on. I'll need to listen a few more times before I can really digest it.

The two concert recordings I have of A Tonal Group are from Carnegie Hall and Chicago, both from January, 1946. To get personal for a moment, I stuck the Christmas gift tag from the wrapping paper onto the jewel case of the Carnegie Hall set. It was one of my last Christmas presents from my late mom.

Jam-A-Ditty is the opening cut on the Prestige two-fer reissue from the 1970s, "The Golden Duke". I always thought it was a compelling opener, rather exciting.

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).

[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.

[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 agree that Rufus Jones is not as good as Woodyard. Still, to me there is a soulfulness to many of the performances on "70th Birthday Concert" that really appeals to me--including Harold Ashby's solo on "B.P.", the ensemble work on "Things Ain't What They Used to Be", Johnny Hodges' solo on "Black Butterfly", Norris Turney's flute playing on "Fife" (although the song itself is rather slight), just to name a few.

[A Lark Ascending]

Ellington-a-thon: 5

Take The "A" Train [billy Strayhorn] 1941

A third 'signature' tune.

Must have been aware of this in the background as it is such a common big band tune, but I first consciously listened to it on the late 70s 'The Age of Ellington' compilation. One of the many reasons why that was such a good primer was that it had two versions. The 1941 RCA version - Ray Nance is credited with the trumpet...did he play both the muted and open parts? And then the 1966 version from 'The Popular Duke Ellington' which I really like - the piano intro that starts in waltz time really builds up to the entry of the main melody.

Based on 'Exactly Like You', I read today on Wiki. Never knew that.

[JSngry]

Ellington-a-thon: 5

Take The "A" Train [billy Strayhorn] 1941

A third 'signature' tune.

Must have been aware of this in the background as it is such a common big band tune, but I first consciously listened to it on the late 70s 'The Age of Ellington' compilation. One of the many reasons why that was such a good primer was that it had two versions. The 1941 RCA version - Ray Nance is credited with the trumpet...did he play both the muted and open parts? And then the 1966 version from 'The Popular Duke Ellington' which I really like - the piano intro that starts in waltz time really builds up to the entry of the main melody.

Yeah, Nance played both on the original.

I've got a soft spot for the vocal versions of the tune, Betty Roche's on Uptown, of course, but really for the Ray Nance vocal on All Star Road Band. Totally spontaneous, it seems like, the band finishes the instrumental chart, and then Duke announces that Ray will now favor us with a vocal version, calls the key, and off we go, with Ray as hip and in the groove as he always was. I'm a big Ray Nace fan myself, the guy was always in there.

That whole All Star Road Band album is a treat, as is Volume 2 (from a different date). amazing documents, really, of the band live and not in a "concert" setting. You can hear band conversations during tunes and stuff like that, plus the band itself is in prime "ragged but right" form on both occasions.

"A Train" is another one of those things that has been overplayed as a blowing tune, but is still a marvelous orchestral creation. So many colors and textures in what, less than three minutes?.

[Clunky]

"A Train" is another one of those things that has been overplayed as a blowing tune, but is still a marvelous orchestral creation. So many colors and textures in what, less than three minutes?.

Familiarity breeds ..................... I'm not too keen on the A train, not one to excite me in any version, sorry

[jeffcrom]

I know what folks are talking about with "A Train" and "Don't Get Around." I've heard them and played them so many times that it just gets tiring. Those two tunes are particularly popular with non-jazz bands who want to play a little jazz, and back in my leaner days I would take any gig offered, so I played with a lot of those bands.

But if you can step back and listen to the originals with fresh ears, they're pretty amazing. I just listened to "Never No Lament" for the first time in a long time. If it's possible to forget that you've heard the melody hundreds of times, it's full of delights - the ensemble swing is perfect, and like Jim said about "A Train," it's full of changing colors. The sax section sound in particular is delicious.

And like Jim, I like the Betty Roche version from Uptown. I don't like the Ray Nance vocal nearly as well - I think it's because I must have seven or eight version with him singing, and they're all the same.

[jeffcrom]

Okay, "Charlie the Chulo," which was from a Barney Bigard small-group date. How come Bigard's sessions were never as good as Johnny Hodges' or Rex Stewart's? It seems kind of unfair - Hodges gets "I'm In Another World" and "Day Dream," while Bigard gets "Charlie the Chulo."

That being said, it's got some nice touches to be such a lightweight tune. Ellington does one of his favorite tricks - screwing around with the end of one chorus and the beginning of the next, so that you're unsure for a moment where the division is. And he manages to make four horns sound like more a couple of times. Bigard's got the beautiful New Orleans sound, Ben Webster comes on like gangbusters in his short solo, and there's a nice chase chorus between Ellington and Bigard. Not bad.

[jeffcrom]

The last one of these I know anything about is "Blue Jean Beguine." The recording I have is from a 1954 Gene Norman concert. In his spoken introduction, Ellington claims that it was dedicated to Norman, but I have my doubts - sounds like he was just flattering the promoter at his concert.

It's a Cat Anderson composition and feature. It doesn't sound very Ellingtonian at all, so I presume that either Anderson did the arrangement himself, or somebody like Dick Vance (whom Ellington bought arrangements from at times) did the scoring. It's a piece of big-band exotica, but it could be anybody's band. I've heard worse Cat Anderson feature tunes, but otherwise it doesn't do a lot for me.

[A Lark Ascending]

I'm not burnt out from A Train's over-familiarity ('Perdido' is the one I can't be bothered with). Maybe I heard it alot in the 60s/70s when large orchestras still filled the TV and radio with brash, brassy music. But in the last 30 years the only jazz I've heard I've had to seek out myself.

A couple of unusual versions:

A 1960 recording where Oscar Pettiford is centre stage with Ellington punctuating, some distant drums and a celeste! All the brashness vanishes.

And an early 80s Pablo with Joe Pass, Milt Jackson, Ray Brown and Mickey Roker playing it as a slow, sultry blues.

Vocally, I'm again fixated on Ella's version on the Songbook set.

"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.

Played that yesterday in response to your post. I think you are right - a minor gem, tucked away out of sight.

[papsrus]

Listening to what the liner notes claim is the first studio recording of 'A Train' on "The Complete Standard Transcriptions, 1941" (Soundies). This version apparently was recorded in Jan. 1941, a month before the Feb. '41 version that appears on the RCA release mentioned above. Not as polished, I'd imagine. Scott Yanow's notes point to Nance's solo not being quite as well-developed as on the more widely known Feb. '41 version.