[Dixielandjazz] Duke Ellington reviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

Duke Ellington reviewed

Duke Ellington: The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick, Columbia and Master Recordings
of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra (Mosaic, 11 CDs, $179, available only
at mosaicrecords.com)
by Nate Chinen
New York Times, November 26, 2010

For a certain breed of listener, this could be the mother lode: a painstakingly assembled,
scrupulously annotated collection of Duke Ellington's Depression-era big-band output
on the labels now owned by the Sony half of Sony BMG. It's music radiant with uplift
and rich with possibility, a portrait of jazz's greatest composer-bandleader in the
thrall of creative and commercial success. This is the era of "Solitude," "Sophisticated
Lady," "In a Sentimental Mood." And it's the era in which Ellington truly adapted
his writing to the gifts of his band members, expressive masters like the trumpeter
Cootie Williams and the alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges (and, on occasion, sterling
vocalists like Bing Crosby and Ethel Waters). Most of the source material has been
transferred from the original 78s, courtesy of the Ellington collector and scholar
Steven Lasker, who also wrote the liner essay, as exhaustively detailed as you could
possibly desire.


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
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