[Dixielandjazz] Duke's D.J Special

[Gilbertson David]

Bill,

re Duke Ellington, "Ellington Moods" on Sesac:


I happened across this LP a couple days ago, and was trying to learn something about it (and Sesac) when I came across your email of Sep 30, which I include here for your ref.

Dear Brian,
Here I am again, answering a query about music which is not quite my stuff.
I find nothing really unusual about Duke Ellington recording 3 minute tracks
in 1959, particularly as he was still riding high following the 'renewal' of
his popularity at the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1956. (Remember Paul
Gonsales' knockout solo at the concert?).
Perhaps you have been swayed by the CD album title selected by Fresh Sounds
- 'The Duke's D. J. Special'.
It was always my belief that the session was recorded for Sesac on 27 March
1959 as transcriptions for use by radio stations and later released on a
Fairmont LP (and later CD) as 'Ellington Moods'. It was also issued on later
LPs for which I have details.
However, the following exchange on the Duke Ellington Music Society Bulletin
site implies that the Sesac material was issued as an LP called 'Ellington
Moods'. 
I don't know if you're interested in this or not, but I include here some photos of the album, and the record itself.  If its interesting to you…great.   If not, just toss it.   Meanwhile, I've only listed to part of  first side so far.   It looks fairly clean, and the sound is pretty good but I think this one will need a few runs on the record vacuum before I play it through.   I'm impressed by what I've hear so far though.

Best regards
David Gilbertson
New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA