*** The Duke Ellington Corner ***

[gmonahan]

Some of you are way ahead of me. I have 222 cds plus 47 lps. Maybe four or five Columbia and Victor 78s. So, 269 total, but like Lon says, there are so many more.  A complete Mercer set would be nice. Those sides are scattered across several (now pretty expensive) Classics cds.

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by gmonahan

[Stompin at the Savoy]

-This query brings up postings with most of Duke Ellington on Chronological Classics: https://archive.org/search.php?query=chronological duke ellington&sin=

which you can stream or can be downloaded as flac files (some only mp3).  As far as I know, Chronological Classics are/were a reprint series on material which is considered public domain in France. In other words Chronological Classics never owned any rights to this material.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Stompin at the Savoy

[EKE BBB]

8 hours ago, Stompin at the Savoy said:

As far as I know, Chronological Classics are/were a reprint series on material which is considered public domain in France. In other words Chronological Classics never owned any rights to this material.

Sadly, they WERE a reprint series.

[Big Beat Steve]

On 1/2/2023 at 11:15 PM, medjuck said:

Anybody got any'78s?   (I used to have the original BB&B release but broke both when I moved to Santa Barbara.  Kept the album cover though.)

I have about nine 78s - most of which came my way as chance purchases, admittedly. On UK HMV and Parlophone, German Odeon, Electrola and Philips, and one oddball (?) item which is a TURKISH pressing (Keep A Song in Your Soul / I Was Made to Love You) of what would have been on HMV release, so the script above the familiar Nipper logo reads SAHIBININ SESI. (Easy ...: Sahib = Master as we all know from various older movies with Oriental settings ).

As for the total counts you all rack up here, I feel like a bloody beginner ... 😄
My total adds up to 87 LPs worth of Ellington (2-LP sets counting as two) plus three 2-CD sets, all in all covering the period from the beginnings up to Newport 1956 + 58 plus a few 1959 and 1962 items.

And apart from a scant few other 45s there's these: 😉

Edited January 6, 2023 by Big Beat Steve

[miles65]

On 1/6/2018 at 8:42 PM, xybert said:

Question regarding The Queen's Suite if anyone that was around at the time gets a chance: how anticipated was it's release? Were people clamouring for it or did it just kind of come out? Was the 'backstory' widely known in the years prior to it's release? Cheers. 

There are at least two copies. Steven Lasker showed his at the London conference in 2008. Everyone had a good chance to look at it. I had it in my hands for a few seconds before passing it on to my neighbor. 

It has the mono version on one side and the stereo on the other side. Photo of the mono label attached

Edited January 7, 2023 by miles65
typo

[Justin V]

A surprise for me was Al Sears, whom I hadn't heard much about before.  His playing reminds me of Ike Quebec.  Sandwiched between Webster and Gonsalves' tenures, I guess Sears gets overlooked, but I enjoy his playing.

[JSngry]

Al Sears went on to some fame as an early "Rock and Roll" tenorist in and around the Alan Freed thing!

 

[mikeweil]

Sears really rocks on his own sides! I bought four compilations with minimal overlap over the years and really enjoy them. His one Prestige LP is totally different, played with a lot of feeling and elegance. An excellent musician.

That said, I have all the Ellington Mosaic boxes, the big RCA box, the French 1950's LP box, and many single CDs - only a few other things I would buy if I find them at decent prices.

Edited January 7, 2023 by mikeweil

[Justin V]

Okay, so below I've listed what I have.  Any thoughts on what I should be next?  I'm a Joe Pass fan, so Duke's Big Four is a must.  I don't know how the other Duke Mosaic of early material rates compared to what I already have if I were able to find it.  I also don't know what more Blanton material I should get, although the Fargo material is likely.  

Box Sets (58 Discs)

1. Centennial Complete RCA Box

2. Reprise Studio Mosaic

3. Small-Group Mosaic

4. Early Ellington

5. Okeh Ellington

6. Happy Birthday, Duke

7. Private Collection

8. Summit with Satchmo

Single Discs

1. Masterpieces by Ellington

2. Newport 1958 (Mosaic)

3. Ellington Uptown

4. Ellington Indigos

5. First Time: The Count Meets the Duke!

6. The Cosmic Scene

7. Piano in the Background

8. Piano in the Foreground

9. This One's for Blanton

10. Piano Reflections

11. Anatomy of a Murder

12. Money Jungle

13. Hot Summer Dance

14. Great London Concert

15.  Alhambra, Vol. 1

16. Coltrane

17. Encounters Coleman Hawkins

18. Three Suites

19. Orchestral Works

Partial Albums

1. The Jazz Scene

2. 1969 All-Star Tribute

[JSngry]

Maybe the Carnegie Hall concerts that Prestige put out?

[jazzbo]

It's too bad the other Ellington Mosaic sets are out of print, way out of print, as they're easy recommendations.

You should have "Back to Back" and "Side by Side" and "At Newport" (2 cd edition) as well as "Featuring Paul Gonsalves" and "Unknown Session" and "Festival Sessions."

 

[HutchFan]

5 minutes ago, jazzbo said:

You should have "Back to Back" and "Side by Side" and "At Newport" (2 cd edition) as well as "Featuring Paul Gonsalves" and "Unknown Session" and "Festival Sessions."

Yes, all of these.   

And I would also recommend these important late-era Ellington albums:
- The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse  
- The Latin American Suite
- The New Orleans Suite
- 70th Birthday Concert 
- Togo Brava Suite (UA/Blue Note)

 

[hopkins]

This is a nice set: http://desguin.net/sonotheque/1_JAZZ/1_ELLINGTON/Duke Ellington/Schmalenberg1970/catalogue.html

Broadcast on Australian TV with Duke's comments:

 

[hopkins]

On 1/8/2023 at 12:19 AM, mikeweil said:

Sears really rocks on his own sides! I bought four compilations with minimal overlap over the years and really enjoy them. His one Prestige LP is totally different, played with a lot of feeling and elegance. An excellent musician.

That said, I have all the Ellington Mosaic boxes, the big RCA box, the French 1950's LP box, and many single CDs - only a few other things I would buy if I find them at decent prices.

Thanks, good recommendation, I just listened to it. The album is available on streaming services, for example on Spotify, as part of those Swingville releases:

 

 

There's a CD version that could be worth looking for. 

 

https://www.discogs.com/fr/master/1159763-Al-Sears-Swings-The-Thing

 

Liner notes (on MusicBrainz): 

Edited January 21, 2023 by hopkins

[Teasing the Korean]

I amassed quite a Duke Ellington LP collection over the 1990s, when they would practically pay you to haul away records.  I have original LPs, box sets, double album comps.  Many CDs too. I regret not buying more of the French LP series back when Stereo Jack's sold them for $2.99 a throw.

[Justin V]

I saw the Capitol Mosaic, minus the box and giant book, for under $60 on Discogs and pounced on it.  I think that I only own Piano Reflections, which I love.  I've got it good and that ain't bad. 

[jazzbo]

Good score! I like the electric piano on this one.

[John L]

On 1/10/2023 at 2:03 PM, Justin V said:

Okay, so below I've listed what I have.  Any thoughts on what I should be next?  I'm a Joe Pass fan, so Duke's Big Four is a must.  I don't know how the other Duke Mosaic of early material rates compared to what I already have if I were able to find it.  I also don't know what more Blanton material I should get, although the Fargo material is likely.  

Box Sets (58 Discs)

1. Centennial Complete RCA Box

2. Reprise Studio Mosaic

3. Small-Group Mosaic

4. Early Ellington

5. Okeh Ellington

6. Happy Birthday, Duke

7. Private Collection

8. Summit with Satchmo

Single Discs

1. Masterpieces by Ellington

2. Newport 1958 (Mosaic)

3. Ellington Uptown

4. Ellington Indigos

5. First Time: The Count Meets the Duke!

6. The Cosmic Scene

7. Piano in the Background

8. Piano in the Foreground

9. This One's for Blanton

10. Piano Reflections

11. Anatomy of a Murder

12. Money Jungle

13. Hot Summer Dance

14. Great London Concert

15.  Alhambra, Vol. 1

16. Coltrane

17. Encounters Coleman Hawkins

18. Three Suites

19. Orchestral Works

Partial Albums

1. The Jazz Scene

2. 1969 All-Star Tribute

While I concur with the other additional recommendations above, I think that the most glaring omission in your collection is the 1930s orchestra.  I consider that to be some of the very greatest Duke Ellington.  The best purchase that you could make, in my opinion (if you can find it), is the Mosaic 1932-1940 Brunswick / Columbia collection.  That is a large and astounding collection of music that has almost no duplication with what you listed above. Chronological classics from this period is another way to go, although the sound quality is inferior, they duplicate the Mosaic small group set, and include a lot of secondary pop vocal tracks.   

 

[HutchFan]

17 minutes ago, John L said:

While I concur with the other additional recommendations above, I think that the most glaring omission in your collection is the 1930s orchestra.  I consider that to be some of the very greatest Duke Ellington.  The best purchase that you could make, in my opinion (if you can find it), is the Mosaic 1932-1940 Brunswick / Columbia collection.  That is a large and astounding collection of music that has almost no duplication with what you listed above.

I second that motion!   

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by HutchFan

[Chuck Nessa]

35 minutes ago, John L said:

While I concur with the other additional recommendations above, I think that the most glaring omission in your collection is the 1930s orchestra.  I consider that to be some of the very greatest Duke Ellington.  The best purchase that you could make, in my opinion (if you can find it), is the Mosaic 1932-1940 Brunswick / Columbia collection.  That is a large and astounding collection of music that has almost no duplication with what you listed above. Chronological classics from this period is another way to go, although the sound quality is inferior, they duplicate the Mosaic small group set, and include a lot of secondary pop vocal tracks.   

 

If you can track one down, this is an excellent 4 disc distillation of the Mosaic set.

[Stompin at the Savoy]

2 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

If you can track one down, this is an excellent 4 disc distillation of the Mosaic set.

Wait, does the Mosaic orchestra set include RCA?  Or do you mean distillation of the RCA set?

[John L]

35 minutes ago, Stompin at the Savoy said:

Wait, does the Mosaic orchestra set include RCA?  Or do you mean distillation of the RCA set?

It is a distillation of the material on the Mosaic, which covers Brunswick and Columbia recordings from 1932-1940.   There is nothing from RCA.   The Ellington orchestra recorded almost exclusively for Brunswick and Columbia in the latter half of the 1930s.  

Edited February 1, 2023 by John L

[medjuck]

It does contain 2 cuts that  I believe can't be found elsewhere: "rehearsals" of Ebony Rhapsody for the film Murder at the Vanities 

[Stompin at the Savoy]

3 hours ago, John L said:

It is a distillation of the material on the Mosaic, which covers Brunswick and Columbia recordings from 1932-1940.   There is nothing from RCA.   The Ellington orchestra recorded almost exclusively for Brunswick and Columbia in the latter half of the 1930s.  

So why does it say RCA on the cover?

[Chuck Nessa]

23 minutes ago, Stompin at the Savoy said:

So why does it say RCA on the cover?

Because of the 2 tracks mentioned by Medjuck above.

While I do have the Mosaic set, I frequently grab "The Best of" to hear a track or two. It is just easier.