# Duke Ellington and his orchestra



## Bill Schuster (Oct 22, 2019)

In less than a decade, Edward Kennedy Ellington has gone from a casual interest, to a top ten all time artist of any genre for me. I love every era. There are no truly weak periods in this catalogue. He was a weird and absolutely fascinating individual. A few favorite albums would include: Carnegie Hall 1943, A Drum is a Woman, the First Sacred Concert, The Ellington Suites, Ellington Uptown, The Far East Suite, The Private Collection volume 5: The Suites, Such Sweet Thunder, The Afro Eurasian Eclipse, as well as assorted collections of pre long play album tracks, such as Never No Lament, which concentrates on the Blanton-Webster era. The sheer number of outstanding musicians who played in the orchestra is just ridiculous. Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Bubber Miley, Sam Nanton, Paul Gonzalves, Barney Bigard, Juan Tizol, Louis Bellson and so many others. Then, of course, there is Billy Strayhorn. 1939-1967 would have been much different without Sweet Pea. My very subjective opinion is that this band and band leader/composer should always be in consideration as the very best that the 20th century had to offer.


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## Bill Schuster (Oct 22, 2019)

Apologies for the lack of paragraphs. I am not sure how to separate them properly on my phone.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

I never paid much attention to Ellington in my youth: he was too regimented to be jazz, he was too formal to be big band, he was too much "folk art" to be classical.

In the past couple of years I have 'discovered' Duke all over again. He truly was his own universe: as elaborate and written-out as any wind quintets by Mozart or Reicha, but using the instrumentation and language of jazz. His players did not improvise (much) but had broad leeway in how they played their parts. His entire front line did extravagant pitch sliding portamentos, which I understand are devilishly difficult on anything but a trombone. His compositions were long, elaborate, and didn't follow any sort of rote A - B - A - B - C - A structure, but evolved naturally and unpredictably. His language was pretty much uniquely his own.

I can't claim to be any kind of expert on him, but I'm definitely a fan now.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Ellington was a major American composer, bandleader and pianist. I don't think his work can be over-rated. But it doesn't translate well outside of his own band, or one made up of jazz musicians. The straight symphonic orchestra recordings I've heard of his work pale in comparison. I am not criticizing his work only saying that he wrote it according to certain assumptions about interpretation, which only seasoned jazz musicians can provide.

The *Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra* resurrected and recorded his long form work _Black, Brown and Beige_ - and it is a valuable recording that fills the vacuum that had persisted since Ellington performed the work in January of 1943 at Carnegie Hall.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

When you say his work doesn't translate outside his own band are you referring mainly to his formal instrumental compositions or all of his work? He obviously wrote dozens of great songs that have been covered by numerous artists. As well as shorter instrumental tunes played by hundreds of bands and jazz combos.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

starthrower said:


> When you say his work doesn't translate outside his own band are you referring mainly to his formal instrumental compositions or all of his work? He obviously wrote dozens of great songs that have been covered by numerous artists. As well as shorter instrumental tunes played by hundreds of bands and jazz combos.


I was really speaking of his larger form works, the suites and something like _Black, Brown and Beige_ - which has been done by a symphonic orchestra on Naxos, and I did not think they played the music well. Yes, of course the songs have been done, even some opera singers have recorded them, I think. But I still maintain that even for them they are best handled by musicians with a jazz background.


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

I saw him live twice in the 70s, great as always.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Dorsetmike said:


> I saw him live twice in the 70s, great as always.


I saw him in the early '70s at the Disneyland Carnation Plaza. I was sitting on the floor about three feet from the band. That was great. He had a french horn in the band, and he had a young lady playing solo tenor sax. He was always looking ahead.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Manxfeeder said:


> I saw his band when I was a kid and didn't know much about him, so I didn't realize I was listening to my future hero, Johnny Hodges. I wish I could get a time machine and slap that kid and tell him to pay attention.
> 
> I saw him again in the early '70s at the Disneyland Carnation Plaza. I was sitting on the floor about three feet from the band. That was great. He had a french horn in the band, and he had a young lady playing solo tenor sax. He was always looking ahead.


Ha! I wish I could do the same about seeing the Philadelphia Orchestra in Saratoga when I was 10 or 11. I was too young to appreciate it.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

In the early '70s I purchased on a whim the Duke Ellington album _New Orleans Suite_, simply because the title sounded intriguing. The late '60s/early '70s were extremely transformational, musically, for me. I was writing songs and playing lead guitar in a rock band, singing/cantoring in Old Slovanic/Russian/Polish church choirs, attempting to write for orchestra both a large Romantic-style symphony and a smaller, Haydn-sized "Classical" symphony, beginning my hoarding of recorded music, especially modern and contemporary serious music including that released in the First Edition subscription program of the Louisville Orchestra, and discovering jazz, a hitherto relatively unknown sound world to me.









One thing that remains of that era of my life is the Ellington recording, still a prize in my vinyl collection, and a disc that has taken a spin on my turntable at least once a year for the past ... how many since 1971? (I really don't want to think about it.)

I have since added more Duke to my collection, and when I last checked my database on Discogs (a few moments ago), I see dozens of works featuring the great Duke in one or another aspect of his multi-phased genius.

To this day, I still value _purchasing whims_ and _intriguing album titles_.

I especially still value the music of Edward Kennedy Ellington!


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## Bill Schuster (Oct 22, 2019)

NoCoPilot said:


> I never paid much attention to Ellington in my youth: he was too regimented to be jazz, he was too formal to be big band, he was too much "folk art" to be classical.
> 
> In the past couple of years I have 'discovered' Duke all over again. He truly was his own universe: as elaborate and written-out as any wind quintets by Mozart or Reicha, but using the instrumentation and language of jazz. His players did not improvise (much) but had broad leeway in how they played their parts. His entire front line did extravagant pitch sliding portamentos, which I understand are devilishly difficult on anything but a trombone. His compositions were long, elaborate, and didn't follow any sort of rote A - B - A - B - C - A structure, but evolved naturally and unpredictably. His language was pretty much uniquely his own.
> 
> I can't claim to be any kind of expert on him, but I'm definitely a fan now.





SanAntone said:


> Ellington was a major American composer, bandleader and pianist. I don't think his work can be over-rated. But it doesn't translate well outside of his own band, or one made up of jazz musicians. The straight symphonic orchestra recordings I've heard of his work pale in comparison. I am not criticizing his work only saying that he wrote it according to certain assumptions about interpretation, which only seasoned jazz musicians can provide.
> 
> The *Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra* resurrected and recorded his long form work _Black, Brown and Beige_ - and it is a valuable recording that fills the vacuum that had persisted since Ellington performed the work in January of 1943 at Carnegie Hall.


I would agree that his music is best performed by his own band, especially considering that he composed and arranged with specific musicians in mind.


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