Search - Duke Ellington :: Duke Ellington's Finest Hour

A Great Compilation

Joe | Weymouth, MA USA | 04/14/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"At first glance, "Duke Ellington's Finest Hour" seems like another Ellington collection with the same recordings. However, this one in particular proves to be much more than that. While versions of songs like "East St. Louis Toodle-O" and "Mood Indigo" can be found on many Ellington compliations, there are quite a few different versions of other famous Ellington songs. For example, "In a Sentimental Mood" is from the session with John Coltrane. "Take the "A" Train" features Duke playing a longer, improvised introduction. He then quotes "I'm Beginning to See the Light" before launching into the famous 4 bar intro. Another gem is a medley of "Sophisticated Lady" and "Solitude," which features Duke on solo piano. On this ablum in general, one can hear Duke really play the piano and boy can he play! I also liked the scope of the recordings. There are some from his early days and some from the 1970s. While one could say that the album could have included some of his other songs ("I'm Beginning to See the Light," "It Don't Mean a Thing," "I Let a Song Go out of My Heart," etc.), I still think it is a great collection. Those and other songs were left out probably on account of space. This CD will make a great addition to your jazz cd library."

Ridiculous Title, But Good Music

Johnny Hodges | Clark Fork, ID United States | 09/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As if it were possible to reduce Duke Ellington's two thousand some odd composititions spanning four decades to a "Finest Hour"! The title would make you perhaps think these were great tracks selected from the Duke's whole spectrum of musical output. What it is is a sampler from that small portion of E's output that Verve owns the rights to.



This is really 2 CD's. The first 10 tracks are culled from the complete Brunswick/Vocalion recordings (available en toto on a 3CD set) recorded between 1926 and 1931. This is an "old timey" Duke mid-sized bands remastered from old 78's. If you're not accustomed to listening to jazz from this era, you may be a little put off by the low-fi monaural sound. If you are able to listen through the sonic defects to the music, though, these are some fun recordings. More in the Fletcher Henderson vein (with a prominent banjo, tuba for bass), mostly rather up-beat and high spirited. My favorite: "Double Check Stomp" featuring a killer accordian(!).



Then Whoosh! you are suddenly transported to the 60's (hifi-stereo!) for samples from three CD's of great small group collabarations, 1 each starring Johnny Hodges, Coleman Hawkins, and John Coltrane. Easy to do, because all of the source CD's are uniformly excellent and each well worth owning in it's own right. The Trane track is especially chilling in its beauty. Then to the big orchestra for 2 tracks from a european concert and 2 solo piano numbers from 1972. If you think that the minimalist plinking heard in the big band setting represents all he can do at the keyboard, you will be awakened hearing these solos. Duke was an five-star pianist, and could have made a star career just playing. When I hear him play, I'm reminded of the quote (I think it was Hemmingway): "It's not what you put in that's so important, it's what you leave out".



So, if your taste includes that exciting period when big band jazz was just forming, as well as exquisitly rendered small group melodic jazz from the twilight of the jazz era, or if you want a sample of SOME of the rainbow that is the Ellington output, you should definitely pick this up. If you are a big fan like me, you might want it just to have a nice single CD of Duke for the road. Wished they'd have squeezed a few more tracks in: it would have been an even better collection if they'd included 2 tracks each from the Hodges/Hawkins/Coltrane sessions."