Search - Duke Ellington :: Carnegie Hall Concerts, January 1943

Beyond Category

Joe Richards | Belgium | 01/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If the performance of Black, Brown and Beige were the only thing on this CD, it would be cheap at ten thousand dollars. BB&B was not just a premiere of a new work but the start of a new direction for Ellington's composing. Sadly, the critics of the day weren't happy with it and this had a negative effect on the Duke. Objectively, the performance does have some weak points and most of the second half of the third (last) movement is spent aimlessly wandering around before coming to a pompous closing. Ellington was a procrastinator and it sounds that he left the third movement for too late and hurriedly threw something together at the last minute. To be fair, in spite of its unhappy ending, the first part of the third movement is absolutely beautiful, without paralell and beyond category. Also worth mentioning is that Ellington was in constant activity with travelling, playing live performances, radio shows and making recordings. He did not have the luxury of being able to take some time off and work exclusively on this project until it reached a satisfactory conclusion.



The other side here is that both serious and jazz critics seemed to have completely missed the bus on this composition. They did not see the significance of the fact that for the first time someone had written an entire jazz concert piece that lasted three quarters of an hour. At least one critic complained that it was not made for dancing. Better yet, it was initially presented as part of the composer's first concert in the most hallowed venue of serious music in the USA, which upset some critics who didn't believe that a dance or jazz orchestra should be playing serious music. Some critics said the story that Ellington was trying to tell was much too big for the time allotted, that it was too ambitious and maybe a little beyond his abilities as a composer. Perhaps there is some validity in these points, especially given that Ellington had never done anything so large before and there were absolutely no precedents to refer to. There were also no references that the critics could use for their evaluations, which may explain some of the negative reviews. BB&B was about three times longer than anything he had done previously.



I do know that BB&B came right from Ellington's heart as he was deeply concerned about the poor situation of black people in the USA back then. It was music, but the purpose was more than just entertainment or pushing the musical envelope. It made a statement, a statement that was really more positive than the actual situation in those days warranted. This positive attitude was based on Ellington's optimism that the situation would get better. It did, but it took 21 more years for the Civil Rights Act to become the law of the land. BB&B also took jazz to a new level (not the first time the Duke had done this and not the last) both as a composition and for the many beautiful individual performances that it contains.



As to the sound quality, there were two microphones used. One was for the band, the other for the spoken announcements and the soloists. They were fed into a speaker backstage and the output went to a recording studio by telephone... We are very lucky indeed to be able to enjoy this historic performance today, sixty-plus years later.



I have the entire DE series on the Classics label from France, the Alternative Takes series, all six of the Carnegie Hall Concerts from the forties, Fargo, and many other DE items in my collection. BB&B has been one of my top DE favorites since I first heard it on LP over thirty years ago. I think it is one of the most important pieces of American music ever written, in any genre. Don't hesitate over buying this CD. It will be the best musical investment you will ever make.

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