Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Duke Ellington Orchestra: Big Bands Live

Duke Ellington Orchestra: Big Bands Live

By Dan McClenaghan
December 30, 2012
View read count

Duke Ellington Orchestra: Big Bands Live

By 1967, the heyday of the big band was over. Rock and Roll ruled as the popular music of the day, and the financial challenges of keeping a large ensemble together for recording—and especially touring—were huge. But

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington—one of American's finest bandleaders, pianists, and composers—was more than just a genius in the field of music. He also succeeded as a business man, keeping his orchestra not only busy on the road, but also creating his finest art—what he called "American Music"—in the 1960s and 70s.

Big Bands Live: Duke Ellington Orchestra, is the second release from the Jazzhaus music label's "Big Bands Live" series, and it captures the group in top form in a previously unreleased 1967 concert recording in Stuttgart, Germany.

The fourteen-piece group opens with brief ride on the orchestra's theme, "Take the "A" Train," before launching into another

Billy Strayhorn

piano
1915 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Billy Strayhorn jewel, "Johnny Come Lately." Ellington sparkles on piano in front of John Lamb's walking bass, his spare elegance giving way to the orchestra that gathers momentum, sounding juiced up and full of fire as they feed off the enthusiastic audience.

For the most part, the thirteen tunes here aren't the most famous in the Ellington songbook and less than full-on Ellington fans probably won't recognize "Swamp Goo," "Rue Bleue," "The Shepherd," or "Kixx," which are all vintage Ellington compositions. The soloing is consistently first rate—Ellington's classy piano intros, trumpeter

Cootie Williams

trumpet
1911 - 1985

" data-original-title="" title="">Cootie Williams' jungle cat growls, baritone saxophonist

Harry Carney

saxophone, baritone
1910 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Harry Carney's deep, mellifluous little concertos, and

Johnny Hodges

saxophone, alto
1907 - 1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Johnny Hodges' angelically beautiful alto saxophone.

The year 1967 saw the releases of a couple of extraordinary Ellington studio albums: ...and His Mother Called Him Bill (RCA ), and Far East Suite (Bluebird ); live and tearing it up, Big Bands Live: Duke Ellington Orchestra is a superb addition to this fertile period in Ellington's creative output.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Take the "A" Train; Johnny Come Lately; Swamp Goo; Knob Hill; Eggo; La Plus Belle Africaine; Rue Bleue; A Chromatic Love Affair; Salome; The Shepherd; Tutti for Cootie; Freakish Lights; Kixx.

Personnel

Duke Ellington And His Orchestra

band / ensemble / orchestra

Duke Ellington: piano; Cat Anderson: trumpet; Cootie Williams: trumpet; Herbie Jones: trumpet; Mercer Ellington: trumpet; Paul Gonsalves: tenor saxophone; Johnny Hodges: alto saxophone; Harry Carney: baritone saxophone, clarinet; Russel Procope: clarinetr, alto saxophone; Jimmy Hamilton: clarinet, tenor saxophone; Chick Conners trombone; Lawence Brown: trombone; Buster Cooper: trombone; John Lamb: bass; Rufus Jones: drums.

Album information

Title: Big Bands Live | Year Released: 2012 | Record Label: JazzHausMusik

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Phish: 12/6/97 The Palace of Auburn ...
< Previous

R.J. DeLuke's Best Releases of 2012
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.