Ellington at his best
Michael Leddy | Charleston, IL | 05/16/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It's increasingly difficult to get a good sampling of Duke Ellington's music from any source other than a "collector's" label. The Duke Box offers a great sampling of Ellingtonia, for $9 a disc. The sound is always at least adequate and sometimes excellent. The Fargo performances, 2.5 hours on discs 2 and 3 are incredible -- clear, vibrant sound and incredible musicianship. They're among the very best Ellington recordings. Thank you, Storyville!"
Too pricy for the content
Charles S. Pickard | Jacksonville | 05/13/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Two of the recordings are excellent and representative of Duke's live performances. The Fargo recordings are outstanding. The other material is superfulous, and at times the fidelity suffers. The Concert at Carnagie Hall was quite good from a historical perspective.
I would recommend that Blue Note issue the Fargo recordings as a solo album at a lower price. True lovers of Duke and the big band sounds might find the box album a good buy. I am a collector, and a lot of this stuff I have on other disks. I would recommend other albums--- the Blanton recordings, with the phenomenal bass of Jimmy Blanton. Also, the live Newport Jazz Festival recordings (2-cds) are very good."