Search - Duke Ellington :: Strayhorn Touch

A Bargain with a Catch

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 04/16/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"These kinds of albums always mystify me. They're put out there for the mass-market audience, cheaply priced to attract the average K-Mart shopper. But the music, as great at it is, is likely to be fully appreciated only by the Ellington specialist and aficionado, since it is from the early 40's and is likely to be the least accessible Ellington to neophyte ears. And to compound the problem, there's not a single program note provided for any of the songs, so even a die-hard Ellington fan is likely to be frustrated (can it be so much added expense for the producer to provide dates, names of musicians, etc?). In any case, the album, especially in the dirt-cheap cassette version, is a golden find for the impoverished Ellington scholar who knows the history behind the recordings and who had come to the local K-Mart to pick up some motor oil."