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Duke Ellington: Orchestras
built 237 days ago
For some years now, most of Duke Ellington's albums from the 50's, 60's and early 70's have been out of print in this country. There has been considerable interest in Ellingtonia, but reissues have almost invariably concentrated on the great orchestra of roughly 1938-1941, or on earlier items of historic value.
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Duke Ellington is regarded as the most important composer in jazz history. His orchestra was his workshop as well as his principal instrument, even more than the piano. He recorded approximately 2000 original compositions.
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In addition to playing a vital part in determining how jazz was to be played, Duke ... lent a helping hand in determining where it could be played. In the early 1930s he pioneered with a tour of DeLuxe Movie Theatres, an avenue of expression previously unknown for the jazz orchestra. Starting in 1925 he broke down a long series of racial barriers that had prevented Negro orchestras from playing any important white locations. In 1933 and again in 1939, he blazed the international concert tour trail, the latter visit including a concert in a bomb-proof Paris shelter. Finally, he established firmly in America that Carnegie Hall and similar auditoriums could be successfully used as a regular outlet for jazz concerts.
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On 1994's Singin' With the Big Bands, Barry was paired with the orchestras of Les Brown, Duke Ellington, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Harry James, and Glenn Miller on a glorious set of Swing Era standards. Most recently, there was 1998's Manilow Sings Sinatra, which paired Barry with Grammy-winning producer Phil Ramone, paying homage to the great songs made famous by the legendary Frank Sinatra. Clive Davis called it "an enriching, exciting and fulfilling album" that complemented the earlier Manilow concept recordings.
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As in the forties, Ellington continued to turn out longer works, though now for occasions other than his orchestra's appearances at Carnegie Hall. These included Harlem (1951), Such Sweet Thunder (1957), Tool Suite (1959), and Idiom '59 (1959). Ellington ... explored other outlets for his compositions, writing Night Creature (1955) for combined symphony and jazz orchestras, A Drum is a Woman (1956) for a television production, and Anatomy of a Murder (1959) for a Hollywood film directed by Otto Preminger.
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This DVD captures the 1958 Duke Ellington Orchestra at its very best. And they feel it. See the musicians’ smiles. Ray Nance’s ecstatic expression with his violin, as he dances. “Butter” smiling every time he lifts his horn. Carney exuberant in his chair. Woodyard grinning at his drums.
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