Search - Duke Ellington, Mahalia Jackson :: Black Brown & Beige

Lovely, lovely, lovely!

Nikica Gilic | Zagreb, Croatia | 11/04/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mahalia, generally speaking DIDN'T record (or sing for that matter) jazz, soul, r&b and other genres;

but she had a high opinion of Duke's work and Duke's orchestra (not a huge surprise there) and he did give her a role that goes well with her religious convictions: she was to sing the religious segment of the African American historical experience... Something she was famous for...

So, this is not a typical Ellington orchestra album, but it's a great album nevertheless, with LOVELY and emotional contributions by Ray Nance, Harry Carney, John Sanders, Quentin Jackson, Cat Anderson, Shorty Baker (...) and the Duke himself.



Additional tracks (two of which I already have on my CBS Jazz Masterpieces "Blues in Orbit" CD - Duke Ellington: Blues in Orbit (Columbia Jazz Masterpieces))

are very, very welcome, even if they sometimes dilute the sheer beauty of the core performances of the album, the selected parts from "Black, Brown and Beige" suite. For me, Ellington's music shows continuous development from the late 1920s until the 1960s (I haven't yet listened to the last few years of his orchestrations) so, this peculiar album is something that will repeatedly find its way to my CD player."