Search - Duke Ellington :: The Centennial Edition - Highlights From 1927-1973

Duke Ellington
The Centennial Edition - Highlights From 1927-1973
Genres: Jazz, Pop

Track Listings (16) - Disc #1
1. Black And Tan Fantasy
2. Black Beauty
3. The Mooche
4. A Night At The Cotton Club, Part 1
5. Jungle Nights In Harlem
6. Ring Dem Bells
7. Mood Indigo
8. Rockin' In Rhythm
9. Creole Rhapsody, Part 1
10. Creole Rhapsody, Part 2
11. Echoes Of The Jungle
12. Daybreak Express
13. My Old Flame
14. Jack The Bear
15. Cotton Tail
16. Never No Lament
Track Listings (18) - Disc #2
1. Sepia Panorama
2. Sophisticated Lady
3. Day Dream
4. A Lull At Dawn
5. Take The 'A' Train
6. Just A-Sittin' And A-Rockin'
7. I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
8. Passion Flower
9. Things Ain't What They Used To Be
10. Rocks In My Bed
11. Chelsea Bridge
12. Perdido
13. I'm Beginning To See The Light
14. Work Song
15. Caravan
16. The Minor Goes Muggin'
17. Tonk
18. Just Squeeze Me
Track Listings (15) - Disc #3
1. Long, Long Journey
2. Perdido
3. Come Sunday
4. New World A-Comin'
5. A Christmas Surprise
6. Ain't Nobody Nowhere Nothin' Without God
7. Isfahan
8. Blue Pepper
9. Take The 'A' Train
10. The Second Portrait Of The Lion
11. Sophisticated Lady
12. Blood Count
13. Raincheck
14. Basin Street Blues
15. Don't You Know I Care

The 24-CD Centennial Edition of Duke Ellington's RCA recordings was the crown jewel of 1999 reissues. There's already been a single CD extracted from the set, but there's inevitably greater depth in this three-CD package. ... more »As an ancient emcee announces on "Cotton Club Stomp" from 1929, Ellington was not only "the greatest living master of jungle music," but also the most daring and imaginative artist at work in American music, a composer who could span the boisterous and sublime. The first CD provides a good sample of early evidence, including the first true extended work of jazz, the two-part, eight-minute "Creole Rhapsody" from 1931, featuring the fine solo work of clarinetist Barney Bigard and trumpeter Cootie Williams. The train simulations on 1933's "Daybreak Express" are still astonishing--program music pressing toward the avant-garde--while Williams's plunger mute is a delightfully disruptive burr in an otherwise conventional cover of "My Old Flame." The sound of the early tracks isn't just a tribute to RCA and contemporary digital technology. Ellington possessed a special grasp of the recording studio, getting the best sonic picture of his compositions, just as he possessed a knowledge of his sidemen's strengths and potentials. Many of those emblematic performances are here, like Bigard's on "Mood Indigo" and several by Johnny Hodges. Disc Two extends from 1940 to 1946, another rich period in Ellington's relationship with RCA Victor and the beginnings of his longtime relationship with arranger-composer Billy Strayhorn, including such wonderful works as "Take the 'A' Train" and "Chelsea Bridge." The third disc provides an excellent sample of Ellington's oft-neglected later career, including a beautiful concert rendition of "Come Sunday" with singer Esther Marrow and the glorious "Isfahan" from the Far East Suite. Throughout, one is in the presence of an unparalleled musician and the orchestra that was the living, breathing embodiment of his creations. There's also room for one of Duke's 1940 duets with bassist Jimmy Blanton as well as his first recorded meeting with Louis Armstrong. Rather than competing with it, this makes an excellent companion to the recent three-CD Columbia selection, The Duke. Each fills in some of the other's chronological gaps, and together they provide "alternate takes" during the early years when Ellington was label hopping to make pseudonymous cover versions of his own tunes. --Stuart Broomer

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CD Details

All Artists: Duke Ellington
Title: The Centennial Edition - Highlights From 1927-1973
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: RCA
Original Release Date: 4/4/2000
Release Date: 4/4/2000
Album Type: Box set
Genres: Jazz, Pop
Styles: Swing Jazz, Orchestral Jazz
Number of Discs: 3
SwapaCD Credits: 3
UPC: 090266367221

Synopsis

Amazon.com

The 24-CD Centennial Edition of Duke Ellington's RCA recordings was the crown jewel of 1999 reissues. There's already been a single CD extracted from the set, but there's inevitably greater depth in this three-CD package. As an ancient emcee announces on "Cotton Club Stomp" from 1929, Ellington was not only "the greatest living master of jungle music," but also the most daring and imaginative artist at work in American music, a composer who could span the boisterous and sublime. The first CD provides a good sample of early evidence, including the first true extended work of jazz, the two-part, eight-minute "Creole Rhapsody" from 1931, featuring the fine solo work of clarinetist Barney Bigard and trumpeter Cootie Williams. The train simulations on 1933's "Daybreak Express" are still astonishing--program music pressing toward the avant-garde--while Williams's plunger mute is a delightfully disruptive burr in an otherwise conventional cover of "My Old Flame." The sound of the early tracks isn't just a tribute to RCA and contemporary digital technology. Ellington possessed a special grasp of the recording studio, getting the best sonic picture of his compositions, just as he possessed a knowledge of his sidemen's strengths and potentials. Many of those emblematic performances are here, like Bigard's on "Mood Indigo" and several by Johnny Hodges. Disc Two extends from 1940 to 1946, another rich period in Ellington's relationship with RCA Victor and the beginnings of his longtime relationship with arranger-composer Billy Strayhorn, including such wonderful works as "Take the 'A' Train" and "Chelsea Bridge." The third disc provides an excellent sample of Ellington's oft-neglected later career, including a beautiful concert rendition of "Come Sunday" with singer Esther Marrow and the glorious "Isfahan" from the Far East Suite. Throughout, one is in the presence of an unparalleled musician and the orchestra that was the living, breathing embodiment of his creations. There's also room for one of Duke's 1940 duets with bassist Jimmy Blanton as well as his first recorded meeting with Louis Armstrong. Rather than competing with it, this makes an excellent companion to the recent three-CD Columbia selection, The Duke. Each fills in some of the other's chronological gaps, and together they provide "alternate takes" during the early years when Ellington was label hopping to make pseudonymous cover versions of his own tunes. --Stuart Broomer

CD Reviews

A Musical Epiphany (Or You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks!)

Robert W Reid | Wisconsin Dells, WI United States | 07/31/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Music was never a major element of my life. If the radio were on, it was invariably tuned to an all-news station or talk-radio that ranged from the religious to the profane. I did not own a CD player, and my archaic audio cassete player seldom contained anything but "books on tape" or one of Shakespeare's plays. So when a "literary club" that I belong to chose as its 2001 topic "My Favorite Composer," I was at a loss. Shucks! I don't even have a favorite song, let alone a favorite composer!Fortunately, the program committee had a list of suggestions, among which loomed the name Duke Ellington. Thus, Edward Kennedy Ellington became-- for this exigency, at least-- "My Favorite Composer."I procurred from a friend a CD player and withdrew from the local library the Complete Centennial Edition of Duke Ellington's music-- twenty-four CDs, each containing an hour or more of the most marvelous music I could ever have imagined. I listened to it all: Some of the CDs as many as three times. I had to have this music, and I had to have my own CD player. Trouble is, after buying a combination radio/CD player, there was no way I could afford the Complete Centennial Edition. So I did the next best thing: I bought the "Highlights" edition.I have played this three-CD set in its entirety time and again. Everytime I play it, I appreciate it more and "get into it" more. That anyone could create such a myriad of original scores of such a variety is amazing. The "jungle music" of the late 1920s, when Ellington was playing at the infamous Cotton Club in Harlem, is represented by the first cut, "Black and Tan Fantasy." Akin to that genre are "Cotton Club Stomp" and "Jungle Nights in Harlem." Listening to these selections conjured up in my mind's eye nightclub scenes from movies of the 1930s.The first CD also contains the legendary "Mood Indigo," with which even I was familiar, and two other instrumentals that I had never heard before, but have come to really enjoy: "Daybreak Express" and "Creole Rhapsody,"( Parts 1 & 2). "Daybreak Express" takes me on a ride on an old steam locomotive, the kind I remember from my youth. It's just fun to listen to. And there is the neatest love song--"My Old Flame"-- which I hum along with and even try to sing the lyrics.The other two CDs contain additional old standards such as "Sophisticated Lady," "Take the 'A' Train," "Perdido," and "Caravan"; and, again, several wonderful instrumentals completely new to me. I especially like "Day Dream," "A Lull at Dawn," and "Passion Flower." The latter three are mellow and mellifluous--music for relaxing and, yes, daydreaming.The plaintive "Rocks in My Bed" and the somewhat more upbeat "Just Squeeze Me" are two more vocals that I can't help but at least mouth the words to. And for something completely different, the third CD has the blare of "Blue Pepper," a selection that I find can really get me going in the morning (and that's not always easy when one is in his sixties!).It has the feel of Arabia, the hustle and bustle of the bazaar.Since becoming familiar with the music of the Maestro, I can truly say that Duke Ellington is "My Favorite Composer" and this boxed set has been instrumental in making that happen. (The pun is intended.)"