So Far, So Good - Duke Ellington, Lawrence, Jack [Lyr
Conga Brava
Concerto for Cootie
Me and You
Cotton Tail
Never No Lament (Don't Get Around Much Anymore)
Dusk
Bojangles
Track Listings (22) - Disc #2
A Portrait of Bert Williams
Blue Goose
Harlem Air Shaft
At a Dixie Roadside Diner - Duke Ellington, Burke, Joe [2]
All Too Soon
Rumpus in Richmond
My Greatest Mistake - Duke Ellington, Fulton, Jack
Sepia Panorama
There Shall Be No Night - Duke Ellington, Shelley, Gladys
In a Mellow Tone
Five O'Clock Whistle - Duke Ellington, Gannon, Kim
The Flaming Sword
Warm Valley
Across the Track Blues
Chloe - Duke Ellington, Kahn, Gus
I Never Felt This Way Before - Duke Ellington, Dubin, Al
Without a Song - Duke Ellington, Eliscu, Edward
My Sunday Gal
Mobile Bay
Linger Awhile - Duke Ellington, Owens, Harry
Charlie the Chulo
Lament for Javanette - Duke Ellington, Bigard, Barney
Track Listings (22) - Disc #3
A Lull at Dawn
Ready Eddy - Duke Ellington, Bigard, Barney
The Sidewalks of New York - Duke Ellington, Blake, Eubie
Flamingo - Duke Ellington, Anderson, Edmund
The Girl in My Dreams Tries to Look Like You - Duke Ellington, Ellington, Mercer
Take the "A" Train - Duke Ellington, Strayhorn, Billy
Jumpin' Punkins - Duke Ellington, Ellington, Mercer
John Hardy's Wife - Duke Ellington, Ellington, Mercer
Blue Serge - Duke Ellington, Ellington, Mercer
After All - Duke Ellington, Strayhorn, Billy
Bakiff - Duke Ellington, Tizol, Juan
Are You Sticking?
Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'
The Giddybug Gallop
Chocolate Shake
I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
Clementine - Duke Ellington, Strayhorn, Billy
Brown-Skin Gal (In the Calico Gown)
Jump for Joy
Moon Over Cuba
Some Saturday - Duke Ellington, Stewart, Rex
Subtle Slough
Track Listings (22) - Disc #4
Menelik: The Lion of Judah - Duke Ellington, Stewart, Rex
Poor Bubber - Duke Ellington, Stewart, Rex
Five O'Clock Drag
Rocks in My Bed
Bli-Blip
Rain Check - Duke Ellington, Strayhorn, Billy
What Good Would It Do? - Duke Ellington, James, Inez
I Don't Know What Kind of Blues I Got
Chelsea Bridge - Duke Ellington, Strayhorn, Billy
Perdido - Duke Ellington, Drake, Ervin
C Jam Blues - Duke Ellington, Bigard, Barney
Moon Mist - Duke Ellington, Ellington, Mercer
What Am I Here For?
I Don't Mind
Someone
My Little Brown Book - Duke Ellington, Strayhorn, Billy
Main Stem
Johnny Come Lately - Duke Ellington, Strayhorn, Billy
Hayfoot, Strawfoot - Duke Ellington, Drake, Ervin
Sentimental Lady
A Slip of the Lip (Can Sink a Ship) - Duke Ellington, Ellington, M.
Sherman Shuffle
The complete and definitive edition of the studio recordings, with Ben Webster on tenor sax and Jimmy Blanton on bass. Only master takes, without alternates. 4 CD set
The complete and definitive edition of the studio recordings, with Ben Webster on tenor sax and Jimmy Blanton on bass. Only master takes, without alternates. 4 CD set
CD Reviews
Fantastic CD's of a Fantastic Ellington Band
12/30/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have both this set and the more common RCA "Blanton-Webster Band" version of this peak Ellington band (The RCA set was issued on October 25, 1990, ASIN: B000003EO4). The Definitive Records set is much better than the RCA version. The RCA version over-uses noise reduction to the point that the sound is muffled and bland. RCA should really be ashamed. What they should do is reissue the set using the excellent remastering that was employed for their massive Centennial box set (they did this with their "Mid-Forties" box set, which I love). Definitive Records is located in Spain, but they easily ship to the USA or anywhere else. You can find them by plugging their name into your favorite web search engine. In this case, "Definitive" is the "Definitive" version of Ellington's Blanton-Webster years - avoid the current RCA version (which has a black cover and a sketch of Ellington). The sound is vibrant and clear - without noticeable hissing or popping."
Superannuated piracy
bukhtan | Chicago, Illinois, USA | 02/27/2006
(1 out of 5 stars)
"This is one of the older "Definitive sets" that I bought before I understood how copyright lapse on older musical recordings is used by knowledgable aficianados of older music to remaster and promulgate music neglected by the big labels and mis-used by thieves to ripoff historic copyright holders or the aforesaid aficionados who make old music available to other aficionados. An example of the first class would be the now-deceased John R.T. Davies, who worked for labels such as Frog, Hep, and Mosaic, the Australian Robert Parker, whose works are produced by Louisiana Red Hot Records, and the rather mysterious French outfit Chronogical [sic] Jazz Classics. The second class is represented, sub-typically, by this boiler room outfit "Definitive".
These people, who move about in Andorra, Spain, and perhaps other parts over there, have burned this set over from the OLD RCA-Victor (BMG, now Sony-BMG or whatever they call themselves) set, the "Blanton-Webster" Band, with the addition of some aural decay that came I know not whence. They added some tracks from the Thirties that include the not yet quite mature Webster; these I'm pretty sure they stole from Chronogical (for some reason, the copyright holder Sony (Columbia) had not released these in a modern CD format.).
I suggest the newer BMG (RCA-Victor) release: "Never no lament". The packaging stinks and in fact the sound is not the very best I've heard, especially on the first disc, but it sure beats the older RCA release with its heavy handed noise reduction. And, by extension, this shameful rip-off.
"
A few good tracks..
Dave Wilson | Melting Icebergs, Planet Earth | 07/03/2006
(2 out of 5 stars)
"5 Stars for Duke. Minus 4 stars for remastering (or lack of). The material is the cream of the crop Ellington, but the people who remastered this tried to get too much clarity and the end result is distortion. Definitive releases are usually a good bargain but this is a complete waste of money.
Buy the "Never No Lament" compilation. It's also has suffered the overuse of the original masters but it's the best you can get.
Where's JT Davies on this one? RCA probably would let him near these recordings 'cause then we'd have affirmation that most remastering is pretty average.
Add One star for the tracks here that are Columbia issues and they are impossible to find elsewhere(Hello Columbia...not everyone wants the Complete... And how about issuing the late 40's/Early 50's seperately?).
Also Mr JB Blues and a couple other Blanton duets are here and difficult to find elsewhere.
Dave Wilson"
Great music but not always the best sound quality
bukhtan | Chicago, Illinois, USA | 07/11/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Definitive, based in Andorra (I think) with discs manufactured in Spain, is one of the reissue labels which has taken advantage of the lapse of copyright to remaster and re-release older jazz (and other) music. It's one of the cheapest, but not necessarily the best. "Chronogical [sic] Classics", "Jazz Archives", "JSP", "Robert Parker's Jazz Classics", "Jazz Masters" are among the others.
Some of the 78's used for the Blanton-Webster project were not of the best quality. Remastering was not in the same league with some of the lines mentioned above. In some cases, it sounds like the engineer jerked the needle off the record before the last chord had faded. Liner notes are not so great: the essay on Duke is generic without much bearing on these sessions in particular and the 78's are not identified.
I'd recommend the 3-CD set for the actual Blanton-Webster session ('40 - '41) issued by RCA-Victor, who recorded these sessions in the first place. RCA-Victor used to take a lot of heat for the sound quality of their reissues, including these sessions, but there seems to be general agreement that recent issues are much improved. You won't get the Columbia sessions (which don't feature Jimmy Blanton anyway), but those are available on some other reissue labels and perhaps from one or another Columbia set.
The sound quality on these CD's is certainly adequate to communicate what the Ellington orchestra was doing, but better is available.
And should Definitive (or the other reissue labels) be re-issuing music that the originating label (or its descendent, in this case BMG) has continued to make available over the years?
Track Listings (22) - Disc #1