Duke's Place - A multipurpose Duke Ellington Thread

I really love this little-known cd, a recording of music for a musical that Ellington composed along with a lyricist that was never produced. A beautiful recording with some current great artists. Nice songs too.

 

Just a special mention of 'Duke Ellington and John Coltrane' (1962)...

This album carries strong memories for me, especially its ballads: "In A Sentimental Mood" and "My Little Brown Book". The former is perfection, and Duke's piano at the end of the latter is some of the most poignant I've heard. Also, it's instructive to compare this version to the full orchestra arrangement (CD bonus track) on '...And His Mother Called Him Bill' (1967).

 

Hi Steve,

Just wondering, what are your go to listening copies (cd or lp) for this era?
I'm getting ready to delve in deeper.

 

Thanks! I knew you'd bring up those 78's. That has to be a gas spinning those. I'll be on the lookout for the LP.

 

Masterpieces: 4cd 1927-1949 Proper set No Noised?

Does anyone know if the Masterpieces: 1927-49 4cd set by Proper is No Noised? It was mentioned in post 47.

 

Of course. It's not that it is super-heavily processed though so much as it's uneven. Proper is a UK label which takes advantage of recordings still under copyright here but public domain over there. Unlike Bear Family for example, Proper does not pay to license the recordings and do not pay to have access to any work parts or masters. As such the set draws from a variety of sources ("rips" from commercial 78s, LPs or CDs) and they put it through whatever it is they do to homogenize the sound somewhat (and "homogenized" is not a bad description of the sound on a lot of their sets). However in all fairness one should note their booklets are very generous and informative and the prices should be very low. They may be a good "entry way" to a (PD in EU only) segment of an artist's catalog, from which point one tries to collect better sources for what they're interested in.

 

Thanks for the tip on that LP.

Ah to hear it from the original 78s.

Please excuse the lament, but what a shame we - now and especially people in the future - can't just go get a good straight dub from the 78s or metal parts on any of the thousands of long lasting, non-wearing, no fuss CD copies we made.

 

Huh that's interesting. Talk about hit or miss, the originals must be swell and 78 to 78 dubs horrid. Are the stories of metal parts being thrown as scrap into the war effort exaggerated?

Wouldn't be a few bucks to find out here though, only the collectors market rates online plus shipping. Can't play much in that game. This area had a rather small population back when and folks who moved here must have left the shellac behind or pitched it all in the dumpsters long ago. It's beautiful and I love it as far as living here, but the vinyl market is very bad and there's just no market for 78s. It's pretty much like they never existed. If I were in or near LA I'd be doing some hunting though, and you can bet classic Ellington from original parts would be exactly the thing I'd be a-huntin' for. Thanks for the tips though, who knows, if I ever travel out of this area I'll have to try to pick some up. Enjoy those gems.

 

Not always, if the original 78 was played back electrically, and dubbed pretty 'straight' they can be much less than horrid, though not anywhere in the same league as pressed from original parts.

Those 'microphone label' red Columbia 78 are often treated as trash by collectors, because there's so darn many of them and they contain a lot of popular music that has no collector cache. However, I will always look through them, in the hopes of finding some of those re-presses that SH mentioned. Through a lot of digging, I found vintage Ellington, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong and so on. But they're unfortunately few and far between amid the piles of Kay Kyser, Benny Goodman, Harry James, etc.

 

Funny, that is the same album that started me out on my exploration of the Duke (& I recommended it also upthread). I think I paid $4 for my copy.

The "This Is" 2 lp series on RCA is pretty good, with issues for the Dorseys, BG, Artie Shaw, and a good overall big band compilation. Plentiful and I've found clean unplayed copies easy to come by.

 

Well Greg I'd settle for finding some clean Benny Goodman and Harry James 'round here. Sounds like you have quite a nice collection too.

This thread inspired me to play some and currently serenading this warm little room on a cold rainy night is Clouds In My Heart (1936).

 

These are transfers were directly to new 78s, yes?

 

Does anyone here know about the 1932 double-transcription discs owned by Steve Lasker that were combined in recent years for true stereo presentations of two seven-minute + medleys by Duke and his Famous Orchestra on RCA?

Discussed earlier this week in theres no such thing as 78 RPM stereo, right?... but I was wondering, were these original transcriptions on 78s or 16" 33 1/3 or what?

In any case, these are wonderful performances in great sound quality... kind of spooky too!

Medley No. 1: Mood Indigo/Hot and Bothered/Creole Love Call
Medley No. 2: East St. Louis Toodle-Oo/Lots o' Fingers/Black and Tan Fantasy

 

There are three volumes of the Masters of Jazz series on Media 7 (now OOP) that were mastered by John R. T. Davies - Volumes 9, 10, and 11, covering Dec. 1929 to Oct. 1930. For that period, I would go to these CDs every time.

Also, the RCA Centennial box covers this whole period (1927-1934) on seven CDs. The sound is stunning.

Early Ellington collects the complete Brunswick and Vocalion recordings of 1926-1931 on 3 CDs, and can be found very cheap. Likewise, The Okeh Ellington collects all the Okeh sides from 1927 to 1930 on 2 CDs.

Finally, there are three volumes of The Brunswick Sessions (1932–35) on the Swedish label Jazz Information, remastered by Jack Towers. These are available at pretty reasonable prices, too.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I've got the "This is..." RCA LP set on the way
and I know I'll need to go a lot further for the Duke.

 

Anyone else like the Anatomy of a Murder soundtrack Duke did? I have the "expanded" Legacy CD of it and would like to give them a lot of credit on that one. It offers all the music in much better sound than I expected (toppy, but strong resolution and no NR from fine, well played tapes). Extra credit to them for trying to include the theme in all variants: film version, mono single version and stereo single version. Excellent booklet if inevitably microscopic at CD size. All for a nice price. Very satisfied with it.

The theme is almost Duke meets Peter Gunn, bit frustrating somehow but I dig it. Happy Anatomy is fun. Haupe is like a long lazy afternoon. While a bit rough (I gather work was hurried) Sunswept Sunday is one of those vignettes I always enjoy from Duke. The "Duke A La Guy Lombardo" piece is cute. Way Early Subtone is aptly titled. It all felt different to me from hearing the score while watching the movie. Sure it's not Blanton-Webster time but I certainly enjoyed this CD.

 

I've always wanted to hear that. Ever since MFSL did the LP way back in the day, it has been on my list. But every time I found an original LP is had a seam split or was worn, or later issue or something else not right.

But I like the Hi-Fi Stereo era of Ellington on six-eye Columbia, so I should own this.

Indigos is my favorite late-nite listening LP of all time. Great sounding recording, and while it is a mellow, that is not a bad thing.

I need to get this expanded remastered CD, because it is likely not expensive, and that original six-eye LP never jumped up and bit me from the used bins.

 

Oh I like Indigos a lot. Neither music nor sound is mellow like the Indigos album, it's more aggressive and uneven, but still well done and I think handled with best intentions on this CD. There's more music on the CD and it should be cheap too. So yeah I'd suggest just get the CD and enjoy.

 

Of course it is not mellow like Indigos, I was just saying sound quality of this era is tops. "Jazz Party in Stereo" is also a fave from this era, and that ones rocks a bit more.

 

Isn't it great? A lot of late '50s recordings have a sound I love. This one does too, you'll enjoy it. What I was expecting was a film track recording, probably mono, probably generations down with a ton of reverb etc. Instead it's full, vibrant stereo. Yay!

 

I love old records in the Hi-Fi era including soundtracks, etc. But since MFSL did it, I have been expecting good sound from this title now for many years. Early 60s is great as well of course. I've been listening to Lala Schifrn film scores lately. The Ellington is going to be next.

 

Were the re-pressings during the recording ban years, which you said above were done from the original metal parts, themselves 78 rpm discs with one song per side?

was it mechanical production from the original stampers or was there a dub via electrical means?

I mean, if I want to find some of these choice sides, I'm looking for 78s, right, and not compilations on LP?