[Dixielandjazz] Check out my band playing Ellington's Awful Sad!

[Marek Boym]

I started the "pianoless" discussion by stating that it was strange to hear
a pianoless version of an Ellington number.  What I meant had nothing to so
with solos, but rather with pianoless rhythm sections.  In general, I
prefer rhythm sections with a piano - a strange statement coming from an
avid of the (pre-Jazz and Blues) Barber band, which, by the way, recorded
quite a lot of Ellingtonia.
In the same posting I mentioned Eli Preminger's penchant for reviving
obscure Ellington numbers.  While the last time I heard him play such a
tune it was with a piano, his band (Eli and the Chocolate Factory) is
usually pianoless, and plays Ellingtonia, not only obscure, very well.
Cheers,
Marek

On Wed, 5 Feb 2020 at 02:14, Shaw, Tim <Tim.Shaw at vidrl.org.au> wrote:

> Dear all,
> I agree with Bill - always nice to fine "new" old tunes resurrected -
> especially if they deserve it - not all do - but "Awful Sad" does - & it's
> not unique amongst Ellingtonia - listen (eg) to
> "The Mystery Song"  (which does have a bit of DE piano but mainly
> decorative, not so "functional" -
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlveGjxUeFw
>
> Really "good" tunes (& most music in general) is independent of
> instrumentation.  (Think of the baroque greats Bach, Scarlatti, Handel et
> al. as the extreme case).
> Ellington's pianistic skills pre-mid-1930s were very secondary to his
> ability to "herd (musical) cats" - clearly a thankless & exhausting task,
> considering what a bunch of bad lads the DE band were - and continued to be
> until his son, Mercer Ellington took over the job of trying to clean up
> their behaviour. Mercer probably kept them in work, but the musos resented
> him & I'm pretty sure that most of us on the listening end (OKOM dept.)
> much prefer the earlier bands stacked by "bad" (in both, opposite senses)
> dudes.
> I reckon the really "great" Ellingtonia mostly sounds great regardless of
> instrumentation - listen to (eg) piano-less Tuba Skinny doing Jubilee Stomp.
> Very best,
> tim
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Haesler [mailto:bhaesler at bigpond.net.au]
> Sent: Tuesday, 4 February 2020 2:02 PM
> To: Shaw, Tim
> Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Check out my band playing Ellington's Awful Sad!
>
> > gerard.bielderman at telfort.nl> <gerard.bielderman at telfort.nl> wrote in
> reply to Jim Kash:
> > Serious jazz lovers (like me) will always be happy when there are some
> new tunes on a cd and not the old warhorses. So it should be a mix of
> standards and obscure tunes I think.
>
> Dear Listmates,
> I'm with Gerard.
> I always look for new tunes and often ignore a CD if it comprises
> selections of warhorses or those taken from the list I call the '100
> standards'.
> The same rule applied generally with the tunes played by my several bands
> for engagements and recordings over the years.
> However, I suppose it depends on the intended audience for the CD.
> In Jim's case it is usually aimed at the point of sale; his tourist
> audiences. A memento. And therefore an exception.
> And I know, from watching/listening to his videos and mp3s of his band,
> Jim does them all extremely well.
>
> It is interesting that Madison picked that rare and neglected 1928
> Ellington tune "Awful Sad".
> A good choice - and it is an excellent rendition. Congratulations.
> Although the 1928 version is well known to older collectors Ellington, for
> some reason he only recorded it twice in his long career.
> And, as has been pointed out, it did not contain a piano solo. Why?
> Oddly, the second (1933) rendition was never released, notwithstanding
> that there were three takes. Another "why?"
> Cheers to all,
> Bill.
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