Ellington on Naxos

[gvopedz]

Has anyone had a chance to listen to the Naxos release, “Duke Ellington: Black, Brown and Beige”?

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=8884446&style=music

[king ubu]

re-enactment?

[Ted O'Reilly]

Just looking at the website, it seems to be the orchestral versions that Ellington recorded on a few occasions, but no credits are indicated for the arrangers. Probably given on the CD.

It's possible that the suite "The River" is the work of the late Ron Collier, a fine Torontonian who worked a lot with Duke after Strayhorn's death. On the occasion of Ellington's 75th birthday, I produced a for-broadcast concert with a large orchestra conducted by Collier, including the world premiere of his orchestration of The River, which ran about 30 minutes in length. The BPO/Falletta on the Naxos runs a bit over 20 minutes, so it could be a different version.

I see that Salvatore Andolina is noted as a clarinet soloist on a couple of the performances. While he's a 'legit' player, he also performs in jazz settings, and I have an impressive tribute to Benny Goodman that Andolina released about15 years back.

[alankin]

[...]

It's possible that the suite "The River" is the work of the late Ron Collier, a fine Torontonian who worked a lot with Duke after Strayhorn's death. On the occasion of Ellington's 75th birthday, I produced a for-broadcast concert with a large orchestra conducted by Collier, including the world premiere of his orchestration of The River, which ran about 30 minutes in length. The BPO/Falletta on the Naxos runs a bit over 20 minutes, so it could be a different version.

Duke wrote "The River" suite in 1970. It was commissioned by a ballet company.

He recorded a solo version in May that eventually appeared on "The Piano Player" (Storyville). The big band version was recorded over several May-June sessions and later released on one of the CDs in "The Private Collection".

Edited August 29, 2013 by alankin