Duke Ellington - Post 1960 Recordings

[Tom 1960]

I have been interested in his later recordings of late and recently purchased The Great Paris Concert and Afro Bossa. I also own And His Mother Called Him Bill, Money Jungle, Duke/Coltrane and the Far East Suite. I actually I had gone through an old copy of Penguin Guide To Jazz recently which spurred further interest.  I imagine there might be a relevant thread here many years ago but I was too darn lazy to do any extensive research. That said, PLEASE indulge me. What are some of your later fav Duke recordings?  

Edited February 16, 2018 by Tom 1960

[aparxa]

The listening pleasure always increases in time. From the records I have listened to in the past 5 years:

The Nutcracker Suite ****/2
Piano in the Background ****
A Portrait of Duke Ellington ***/2
Peer Gynt ****/2
Unknown Session ****
Piano in the Foreground *****
The Great Reunion with Louis Armstrong ****
Together Again with Louis Armstrong ****
First Time! The Count Meets the Duke  ***/2
All American in Jazz  **/2
Midnight in Paris ****
Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins ****
Money Jungle *****
Duke Ellington & John Coltrane ****/2
Afro-Bossa  *****
The Great Paris Concert ****
The Symphonic Ellington ****
Duke Ellington's Jazz Violin Session ***/2
My People ***
Ellington '65 **/2
All Star Road Band Volume 2 ****
Duke Ellington Plays Mary Poppins ***
Ellington '66 **/2
Concert in the Virgin Islands ****
Ella at Duke's Place ***/2
A Concert of Sacred Music From Grace Cathedral ***
The Popular Duke Ellington  **/2
Soul Call */2
Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur **/2
The Far East Suite *****
North of the Border in Canada ****
...And His Mother Called Him Bill *****
Francis A. & Edward K. **/2
Second Sacred Concert  ***
70th Birthday Concert  ****/2
Latin American Suite  ****2/
The Pianist ****/2
New Orleans Suite  *****
The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse  ****/2
The Intimate Ellington ***/2
Live at the Whitney *****
The Ellington Suites  *****
This One's for Blanton! ***/2
Up in Duke's Workshop  ****
Duke's Big 4  ***/
Third Sacred Concert (RCA) ***/2

 

Edited February 16, 2018 by aparxa

[Guy Berger]

Based on what I've heard (which is only a subset of what's listed here), the star scores above are very accurate.  Can't go wrong with the boldfaced items.

[felser]

A few broad brush comments.  Most of the Reprise stuff (65, 66, Mary Poppins) is rancid.  I like the Columbia, Verve, RCA and the Fantasy stuff quite a bit.  "Afro-Eurasian Eclipse" is spectacular.  I also don't disagree with the recommendations of any of the bolded items.  I'm much higher on  Soul Call" and especially "Cote D'Azure" than aparxa.  "Money Jungle" is incredible, lives up to the hopes and more.

[JSngry]

I like them all. Even the "rancid" reprise stuff, if only because one of the infinitely infinite number of great things about Ellington is that there are always layers, and seldom are there more layers that when he does pop songs.

Seriously, Ellington is a world, a whole world. No matter where you go, there you are, so you might as well go to all of it, or as much as possible. Even to Yale Concert, which I am mostly "cool" on, except for "The Little Purple Flower", which, hey...there it is.

I like them all. Literally.

Also...you could break it down further to "Post 1960" and "Post 1970", the latter category is where things start getting...raw. All kinds of raw.

[ghost of miles]

Tom, here's a Night Lights show I did on the late 1960s/early 70s period:

Ellington Ending: Duke Ellington 1967-73

[Milestones]

Ellington is Ellington, and he produced brilliant stuff in his later years.  Also, I think the orchestra was usually well-recorded and sounds wonderful in stereo.

I don't think I see the "Private Collection" series listed; it must be at least 10 volumes--mostly from the 1960s.  I have a couple of them, and they are certainly worth hearing.

 

[Tom 1960]

14 minutes ago, ghost of miles said:

Tom, here's a Night Lights show I did on the late 1960s/early 70s period:

Ellington Ending: Duke Ellington 1967-73

Awesome. Thanks David!

[duaneiac]

There is so much great music from that period.  I really like the collaboration albums from this period -- with Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, the Frank Sinatra one a little less so (although it's worth it to hear Johnny Hodges on "Indian Summer"),  John Coltrane and Coleman Hawkins.  Not included on that list are any of the fine Storyville CDs which have been released in recent years:  The Piano Player, An Intimate Piano Session, New York, New York, Togo Brava Suite and The Jaywalker.  Each of those is worth a listen.  Some other worthwhile titles missing from that list -- Duke Ellington  & His Orchestra Featuring Paul Gonsalves (1962), Hot Summer Dance (1960), The Intimacy of The Blues (1967-70), Harlem (1964) and All Star Road Band (1964 -- the list above includes Vol. 2, but not the first disc for some reason).

I would give Soul Call a higher rating than they do.  Live at The Whitney is essential.  I also really like My People (Storyville has issued a CD of what they say is "The Complete Show") and the Sacred Concerts, but I do have to be in the mood to listen to them.

[Kingpin5]

Late period Ellington is not to be discounted in any way shape or form.  Reprise is not rancid, there are a lot of great tracks.  Tom, you're kicking it with ..And his Mother called him Bill, that is one of the best late period LPs.  Listen to Lotus Blossom (track 9 on my CD), its just Duke playing as the band members file out of the studio and as he plays you can hear the emotion of his playing, he's lost his friend and collaborator and the track is the most gut wrenching on the album, the second is Blood Count.  Strays wrote it as he was laying in the hospital.  His white cell count is the Blood Count in the title.  The thumping of the bass is drip of the of the hospital bag stuck in his arm.  Hodges is almost crying playing this song.  He'd worked with Strays on so many recordings both for Ellington and in their own aggregations. I easily put this in the top 10.  But then...is that the Top Ten of all Ellington's LPs or just from the 60s? ha ha ha ha  

I have personal attachments to Latin America Suite and New Orleans Suite and find it hard to rate one over the other.  I will tell you that Rufus Jones' drumming propels the orchestra in many of these tracks, especially LAS.  Latin American Suite needs a sticker on the cover, PLAY THIS RECORD LOUD, it rocks.

Milestones is correct, the 10 CD Box set of the Private Collection is missing from that list and is a necessary addition.  SO MUCH music.  I've had a copy for 10+ years and it seems like I am discovering something new all the time, something I've missed in the tracks, when listening before.

Jsngry makes a valid point about dividing up the pre-70 and post-70 period, if raw is what I think he means.  Listen to Duke "final approved", Eastbourne Performance, that's a very thin recording, but then Duke was 6 months away from death.  I don't have Afro Bossa or Afro-Eurasian, it's not that I don't like them, but when you've 200 plus Ellington and Ellington related albums, sometimes you prioritize.

Money Jungle is just that....MONEY  , that is one very hip record.  Never hesitate to drop a needle on Far East Suite, you'll be rewarded every damn time.

It is hard to say What's my favorite?  The one I was just listening to earlier. 

 

[JSngry]

Raw:

+

uber-raw:

whether or not they're "good" is totally beside that particular point. If you have to wonder, don't bother.

[Kingpin5]

I've heard the second is as you suggest.

[Tom 1960]

Welcome to the board, Kingpin. Please post often. I appreciate your thoughts to this thread. 

[Larry Kart]

4 hours ago, felser said:

A few broad brush comments.  Most of the Reprise stuff (65, 66, Mary Poppins) is rancid.  I like the Columbia, Verve, RCA and the Fantasy stuff quite a bit.  "Afro-Eurasian Eclipse" is spectacular.  I also don't disagree with the recommendations of any of the bolded items.  I'm much higher on  Soul Call" and especially "Cote D'Azure" than aparxa.  "Money Jungle" is incredible, lives up to the hopes and more.

Can't think of a single Reprise Ellington album that's rancid, including "Mary Poppins." And if seemingly dubious source material is the problem, you're missing one of the greatest (albeit pre-Reprise) Ellington albums, "All American."

[Chuck Nessa]

I can find a reason to buy almost any Ellington recording. I have kept 100+ lps and about 8 feet of cds. 

[JSngry]

1973:

Most important meal of the day!

Last Trip To Paris is intense...Duke no doubt hears death's footsteps, there's all kind of new people in the band, probably brought in by Mercer(?), Duke's halfway trying to write for them and halfway just pedaling down hard just to keep the whole damn thing going, even as we can all (including him) know that that's impossible. Money Johnson sings "Hello Dolly", you get Rocky White, Anita Moore, and Percy Marion, the whole thing sounds like life about to slip on death's banana peel, and it is totally compelling music. Totally.

Not for the feint of heart, and especially not for those who are not invested in Duke Ellington As Supranatural Eternal Life Force, but oh well about that.

[mikeweil]

10 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

I can find a reason to buy almost any Ellington recording. 

That exactly is the problem! 

[John L]

Let me also chime in on recommending the Private Collection.  Some of the live recordings in that collection are not too special, at least as Duke Ellington recordings go, but some of the studio recordings are spectacular.  I listen to them probably as much as any Ellington. 

[JSngry]

 

 

 

[soulpope]

4 hours ago, John L said:

Let me also chime in on recommending the Private Collection.  Some of the live recordings in that collection are not too special, at least as Duke Ellington recordings go, but some of the studio recordings are spectacular. 

Which volume(s) do you suggest ?

[Chuck Nessa]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

 

 

 

Buyers beware - this series was issued on the Kaz label in England, the material is the same, but the volume numbers are not.

[JSngry]

[duaneiac]

 

[JSngry]

What's the story with Tiny Grimes being there?

[Ken Dryden]

About the only Ellington song I don't like was "One More Time For the People," a piece that would cause Cootie Williams to storm off stage when Duke called for it, according to Mercer Ellington's biography of his father. When I finally heard this feature for vocalist Tony Watkins in a concert DVD, I understood why. The piece was supposed to be targeted to young audiences and it just didn't fit the diverse yet timeless Ellington book all that well. It is little wonder that it never turned up on any of the posthumous Ellington albums over the decades since his death in 1974.

After looking over some of the Squatty Roo label releases featuring Duke Ellington and others, a lot of them seem to be CDrs, which I am hesitant to acquire. I also noticed a few bootlegs that had rather wretched sound in their LP incarnations and I can't imagine thet they would be any better on CD or CDr.