Don't You Know I Care (Or Don't You Care to Know) [Take 1] - Duke Ellington, David, Mack
Don't You Know I Care (Or Don't You Care to Know) [Take 2] - Duke Ellington, David, Mack
I Didn't Know About You
Work Song
Come Sunday
The Blues
Three Dances
Carnegie Blues
Blue Cellophane
The Mood to Be Wooed
(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings - Duke Ellington, Blanvillain, Jean M
Kissing Bug - Duke Ellington, Sherrill, Joya
Everything But You
(Otto Make That) Riff Staccato - Duke Ellington, Orent, Milt
Prelude to a Kiss
Caravan
Black and Tan Fantasy
Mood Indigo - Duke Ellington, Bigard, Barney
In a Sentimental Mood
Track Listings (24) - Disc #2
It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
Sophisticated Lady
Tonight I Shall Sleep (With a Smile on My Face)
The Minor Goes Muggin' - Duke Ellington, Oliver, Sy
I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart [Take 1]
I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart [Take 2]
Solitude - Duke Ellington, DeLange, Eddie
Frankie and Johnny - Duke Ellington, Traditional
Jumpin' Room Only
Black Beauty
Every Hour on the Hour (I Fall in Love With You)
Balcony Serenade - Duke Ellington, Strayhorn, Billy
Strange Feeling
Dancers in Love
Coloratura [Take 2]
Coloratura [Take 1]
Things Ain't What They Used to Be - Duke Ellington, Ellington, Mercer
Tell Ya What I'm Gonna Do - Duke Ellington, Blane, Ralph
Come to Baby, Do! - Duke Ellington, James, Inez
I'm Just a Lucky So and So - Duke Ellington, David, Mack
Long, Strong and Consecutive - Duke Ellington, David, Mack
The Wonder of You
Tonk
Drawing Room Blues - Duke Ellington, Strayhorn, Billy
Track Listings (22) - Disc #3
Rockabye River (Hop, Skip, Jump)
Suddenly It Jumped
Transblucency (A Blue Fog That You Can Almost See Through) - Duke Ellington, Brown, Lawrence [1]
Just Squeeze Me (But Don't Tease Me)
A Gathering in a Clearing - Duke Ellington, Anderson, Cat
You Don't Love Me No More
Pretty Woman
Hey Baby
(Back Home Again In) Indiana - Duke Ellington, Hanley, James F.
Blue Is the Night - Duke Ellington, Fisher, Fred
Lover Man [Take 1] - Duke Ellington, Davis, Jimmy [4]
Lover Man [Take 2] - Duke Ellington, Davis, Jimmy [4]
Just You, Just Me - Duke Ellington, Greer, Jesse
Beale Street Blues - Duke Ellington, Handy, W.C.
Memphis Blues - Duke Ellington, Handy, W.C.
St. Louis Blues - Duke Ellington, Handy, W.C.
My Honey's Lovin' Arms - Duke Ellington, Meyer, Joseph [Comp
I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You - Duke Ellington, Crosby, Bing
Swamp Fire - Duke Ellington, Mooney, Harold
Royal Garden Blues - Duke Ellington, Williams, Clarence
Esquire Swank
Midriff - Duke Ellington, Strayhorn, Billy
This three-CD set is a portion of the extraordinary 24-CD set issued by RCA in 1999 as The Centennial Edition: The Complete Duke Ellington RCA Victor Recordings and it benefits from the tremendous archival and restoration ... more »work involved in that project. It's a full 210 minutes of music recorded in a period of just 20 months between December 1944 and September 1946, an in-depth portrait of a musical giant immediately following a two-year hiatus from commercial recording due to the musicians' union ban. Since last recording, the orchestra had made its Carnegie Hall debut, performing "Black, Brown, & Beige," Ellington's most ambitious work. Further, his collaboration with orchestrator Billy Strayhorn, begun in 1940, had continued to develop. Ellington had been building a repertoire and an orchestra since the 1920s, and he was answerable to both the demands of popular fashion and his own creative muse. In fact, they were inextricably combined. He required popular success to maintain the orchestra that was the instrument of his most ambitious compositions, and that duality is apparent here.The set begins with "I'm Beginning to See the Light," one of Ellington's most popular songs and one he'd been anxious to record, and it also includes the recorded portions of the multipart "Black, Brown & Beige" and "The Perfume Suite." There are new versions of older masterpieces like "Solitude," as well as a series of W.C. Handy songs. It was a period when the Ellington band had a full complement of singers, including Al Hibbler, Joya Sherill, and Kay Davis, both for Duke's own songs (an almost choral version of "It Don't Mean a Thing") and popular fare like "My Heart Sings." Among the intriguing diversions are two one-piano duets with Strayhorn and a cross-town exchange program that found Ellington and Tommy Dorsey appearing as guest soloists with each other's bands on the same day. Throughout, the band is magnificent, with brilliant section work and a host of stunning soloists. Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, and "Tricky Sam" Nanton had been associates since the '20s, while trumpeters Taft Jordan and Cat Anderson, clarinetist Jimmy Hamilton, and tenor saxophonist Al Sears had been added to the band since they last recorded. It's an engrossing experience for anyone fascinated with Ellington's music and a remarkable window on a brief period in his great career. --Stuart Broomer« less
This three-CD set is a portion of the extraordinary 24-CD set issued by RCA in 1999 as The Centennial Edition: The Complete Duke Ellington RCA Victor Recordings and it benefits from the tremendous archival and restoration work involved in that project. It's a full 210 minutes of music recorded in a period of just 20 months between December 1944 and September 1946, an in-depth portrait of a musical giant immediately following a two-year hiatus from commercial recording due to the musicians' union ban. Since last recording, the orchestra had made its Carnegie Hall debut, performing "Black, Brown, & Beige," Ellington's most ambitious work. Further, his collaboration with orchestrator Billy Strayhorn, begun in 1940, had continued to develop. Ellington had been building a repertoire and an orchestra since the 1920s, and he was answerable to both the demands of popular fashion and his own creative muse. In fact, they were inextricably combined. He required popular success to maintain the orchestra that was the instrument of his most ambitious compositions, and that duality is apparent here.The set begins with "I'm Beginning to See the Light," one of Ellington's most popular songs and one he'd been anxious to record, and it also includes the recorded portions of the multipart "Black, Brown & Beige" and "The Perfume Suite." There are new versions of older masterpieces like "Solitude," as well as a series of W.C. Handy songs. It was a period when the Ellington band had a full complement of singers, including Al Hibbler, Joya Sherill, and Kay Davis, both for Duke's own songs (an almost choral version of "It Don't Mean a Thing") and popular fare like "My Heart Sings." Among the intriguing diversions are two one-piano duets with Strayhorn and a cross-town exchange program that found Ellington and Tommy Dorsey appearing as guest soloists with each other's bands on the same day. Throughout, the band is magnificent, with brilliant section work and a host of stunning soloists. Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, and "Tricky Sam" Nanton had been associates since the '20s, while trumpeters Taft Jordan and Cat Anderson, clarinetist Jimmy Hamilton, and tenor saxophonist Al Sears had been added to the band since they last recorded. It's an engrossing experience for anyone fascinated with Ellington's music and a remarkable window on a brief period in his great career. --Stuart Broomer
CD Reviews
A great set from jazz's greatest composer.
12/22/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Not only is he jazz's greatest composer, but Ellington was possibly the greatest of all 20th century composers, rivaling even such legends as Aaron Copland and George Gershwin.This collection replaces 1988's "Black, Brown, & Beige," a similar 3CD set of his recorded RCA Victor work between 1944 and 1946. Unlike that earlier set, this set compiles everything Ellington recorded in those years for RCA Victor, including a pair of trios and another pair of piano duets with his brilliant collaborator, Billy Strayhorn. Most importantly, this 3CD set has brilliant sound that is astoundingly better than the "Black, Brown, & Beige" set. Rather than using heavy, NoNoise processing, this set uses noise reduction sparingly and tastefully, and most importantly they went to great lengths securing only the finest sources for this set. That means they don't shortchange us with analogue copies of old 78's, a practice BMG/RCA has been notorious for on past box sets.Of course, the most important thing about this set is the music. It's not at the level of Ellington's early 40's recordings (but then again, few bodies of work can equal those recordings in terms of sustained quality, brilliance, and influence). These years were some of Ellington's toughest in light of constant personnel changes, like the unfortunate departure of Ben Webster and the tragic death of Jimmy Blanton. Nevertheless, this is still an essential Ellington set, collecting some marvelous recordings like "I'm Beginning To See The Light," "Caravan," and most importantly a great studio recording (albeit in truncated form) of his underappreciated masterwork, "Black, Brown & Beige."There's also ten reinterpretations of Ellington classics here, all of which shed new light on each work. Any Ellington fan who hasn't the money to pick up the giant 24 CD "Centennial" box set should pick this up."
Track Listings (22) - Disc #1