Search - Duke Ellington :: Latin American Suite

Latin American Suite

Bomojaz | South Central PA, USA | 11/14/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"
In September 1968, Ellington took the orchestra to South America, the first time he'd ever been south of the Equator, he said. They toured Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Mexico, and throughout the tour Duke wrote music incorporating various impressions he'd made along the way. When they got back to the States, this album was recorded.



Simplicity is Duke's chief characteristic in this suite, as in many of his longer pieces. A couple of the tunes are blues employing the simplest of themes across the 12-bar form. Ensemble playing is emphasized here over solos, though Paul Gonsalves has a couple of good solo spots (on OCLUPACA and BRASILLIANCE), and Duke has finally given himself some solo space.



Some of the pieces still have the feeling of being works-in-progress (TINA, for example) and just seem to go on until they fade out, as if Duke wasn't quite sure how to end it yet. The rhythm in LATIN AMERICAN SUNSHINE is right out of Ravel's BOLERO. A few other tunes have hardly a Latin feeling to them at all. The suite as a whole is rather on the underwhelming side, with BRASILLIANCE the only piece with any drive to it. It's hard to consider this one of Ellington's major compositional efforts, though, of course, the band plays wonderfully."

Excellent and a half

Bill Your 'Free Form FM Handi Cyber | Mahwah, NJ USA | 04/11/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Guilty, your honor. I admit my expertise in jazz starts around 1960 with Ornette Coleman and goes through the end of electric Miles. This happens when you come to jazz through rock, you work it backwards.



I missed Armstrong and Ellington the first time around: when you are twenty and sailing with Coltrane and Pharroah Sanders, Cotton Club recordings seem quaint.



But the advantage is coming to Latin American Suite without hero reverence, and I declare, I am quite impressed. The blues and clean tight orchestrations are sublime, going down smoothly. What amazes me here is how Ellington takes the warm complexity of the music and breezes through it with elegance, making the arch seem simple-- it is amazing what happens when the tools are in the hands of a true master.



I don't know but hope this is the advent of many years with me and the Duke.



At forty, I am trying to go to things dismissed, to watch film and listen to music before television, color movies, rock and roll, and mass media, from a world I am too young to understand.



Last week, I saw Casablanca, and what my new pal Bogie says I say to the Duke after listening to Latin American Suite



This could be the start of a beautiful friendship/"