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Ellington recorded for fifty years, and there are more Ellington records
than any one person can hear. Students used to ask me where to begin, and
this is the list I'd write on the blackboard, in the order the music was made.
All of them are on compact disc now, and most good libraries have several.
One line each; the music will do the rest.
| 1 |
The OKeh Ellington
two CDs, recorded 1927 to 1930
The Cotton Club years, with Bubber Miley's growling trumpet and the "jungle" sound that made his name. Old recordings, but listen past the hiss. |
| 2 |
The Blanton-Webster Band
three CDs, recorded 1940 to 1942
If you can own only one Ellington record, own this one: Ko-Ko, Concerto for Cootie, Cotton Tail, Harlem Air Shaft, and the greatest band he ever had. |
| 3 |
Masterpieces by Ellington
1951
The long-playing record finally let him stretch past three minutes, and he took Mood Indigo, Sophisticated Lady and Solitude and let them breathe. |
| 4 |
Ellington at Newport
1956
Paul Gonsalves and the twenty-seven choruses. Play it loud, and listen to the crowd come apart. I made every band I ever had listen to this one in the dark. |
| 5 |
Such Sweet Thunder
1957
A suite of Shakespeare portraits, written with Strayhorn. Proof that you can be clever and swing at the same time. |
| 6 |
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book
1957
For anybody who thinks they don't like jazz. The songs, sung the way they deserve, with Duke's own band on a good part of it. |
| 7 |
Black, Brown and Beige
1958
His 1943 Carnegie Hall piece, recorded again with Mahalia Jackson singing Come Sunday. I have never once got through it dry-eyed, and I've stopped trying. |
| 8 |
Anatomy of a Murder
1959
His score for the Otto Preminger courtroom picture. Rent the movie too, and watch for Duke himself at the piano in a roadhouse, playing alongside James Stewart. |
| 9 |
Money Jungle
recorded 1962
A trio with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, and the sparks fly. For people who think of Ellington only as a bandleader, here is Ellington the pianist. |
| 10 |
Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
recorded 1962
Two generations in one room. Their In a Sentimental Mood is about as beautiful as recorded music gets. |
| 11 |
The Far East Suite
1967
Written after the band's travels through the Middle East and Asia. Johnny Hodges on Isfahan is reason enough to own it. |
| 12 |
...And His Mother Called Him Bill
recorded 1967
Strayhorn's music, recorded by the band in the months after he died. At the very end Duke plays Lotus Blossom alone at the piano while the band packs up around him. Save it for last. |
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A word for band directors. If you teach young players, don't just
play them the records. Get them the charts, even simplified ones, and let
them play it themselves, badly at first. Then play them the record again.
That second listen is where it happens. I watched it happen for thirty-four
years.
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