Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Duke Ellington

Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Duke Ellington

ASIN: B000050HVQ

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
One of the toughest jobs in assembling the Jazz artist compilations must have been picking the 21 tracks featured on the Duke Ellington disc. Ellington composed thousands of songs and had a career that spanned six decades. More than a jazz great, Ellington is simply one of the most important musical figures in the 20th century. Surprisingly, all the material here was recorded on or before 1960, which eliminates great later works like the Far East Suite and the sacred concerts. Also missing is the legendary 1956 Newport Jazz Festival performance of "Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue," which was the flashpoint that revitalized a career that had fallen on commercial hard times with the emergence of bebop. Not surprisingly, there are four tracks from the so-called Blanton-Webster era, which was a happy convergence of personnel and Ellington's own muse that led the Ellington band to unsurpassed heights. A bit flawed, this is the briefest of glimpses at a musical galaxy that goes on forever. --Tad Hendrickson

Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Duke Ellington,Duke Ellington,Sony,Big Band,Classic Jazz,Jazz,Jazz Music,Orchestral Jazz,Pop,Progressive Big Band,Swing,Trombone

Average customer rating:

WHERE IS JACK THE BEAR!!!!!????????

pretty unimpressive, why Ken why???

Preety impressive

Best Ellington CD I've Seen

Almost Perfect Collection

Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music
Swing General | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
Classic Big Band | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
Contemporary Big Band | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
Orchestral Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Count Basie

Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Benny Goodman

Louis Armstrong: Ken Burns JAZZ (The Definitive)

Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Billie Holiday

Ken Burns JAZZ Collection: Dizzy Gillespie

ASIN: B000050HVQ
Release Date: 2000-11-07

Tracks:

East St. Louis Toodle-oo
Black and Tan Fantasy
Take It Easy
The Mooche
Rockin' In Rhythm
Mood Indigo
Creole Rhapsody
It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
Love Call
Sophisticated Lady
Solitude
Caravan
Back Room Romp
Ko-Ko
Never No Lament (aka Don't Get Around Much Anymore)
Cotton Tail
Take The "A" Train
Satin Doll
Come Sunday
Black Beauty

Amazon.com

One of the toughest jobs in assembling the Jazz artist compilations must have been picking the 21 tracks featured on the Duke Ellington disc. Ellington composed thousands of songs and had a career that spanned six decades. More than a jazz great, Ellington is simply one of the most important musical figures in the 20th century. Surprisingly, all the material here was recorded on or before 1960, which eliminates great later works like the Far East Suite and the sacred concerts. Also missing is the legendary 1956 Newport Jazz Festival performance of "Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue," which was the flashpoint that revitalized a career that had fallen on commercial hard times with the emergence of bebop. Not surprisingly, there are four tracks from the so-called Blanton-Webster era, which was a happy convergence of personnel and Ellington's own muse that led the Ellington band to unsurpassed heights. A bit flawed, this is the briefest of glimpses at a musical galaxy that goes on forever. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews:

WHERE IS JACK THE BEAR!!!!!????????.......2005-06-10

WHY IS THE GREATEST SONG EVER RECORDED NOT ON THIS "GREATEST HITS" CD I THINK I'LL MAIL KEN BURNS A PIECE OF MY CAKA!

pretty unimpressive, why Ken why???.......2004-08-30

I know why because of money? Why do they keep releasing these stupid compilations, tha tare so hophodged, instead of coming out with complete or at least cronological reissues. this is aimed at the dumb novice who wants a "greatest hits" collection. Buy a better colletio nand don';t support this money making shceme of reissuing the same songs over and over and adding one rare songs so collectors have to buy every Ellington release. it's all about $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Preety impressive.......2004-07-21

All things considered, this is really good. I think Duke is the most prolific artist in jazz, so making a one CD compilation that satisfies everyone is impossible. Every song is a masterpiece, specially everything recorded before 1940. I'd actually give it 4.5 stars, because I dont think the inclussion of 'Jeeps Blues' was a good idea. The only track needed from Newport is 'diminuendo in blue', and since that was impossible to include here for time restrictions, they should have gone for something from Far east suite or Such sweet thunder. If you dont have any Ellington, there has never been a better one CD overview than this. Now the sound is surpeisingly good. For some of the blanton-webster tracks, is even better than the latest remastered editions. How do you explain that RCA?

Best Ellington CD I've Seen.......2002-11-19

It seems to me that the purpose of the Ken Burns Jazz Series is to document a history of jazz music. If that is true, and this CD is supposed to tell the story of America's greatest composer, then he (Burns) has done an excellent job. While it's not perfect, it does include early performances like "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo," "Black and Tan Fantasy," and "The Mooche" that are frequently ignored in Ellington compilations. It also includes some of the best recordings from the Blanton-Webster era, and the performance of "Jeep's Blues" from The 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. Although I would have liked to have seen the "Black and Tan Fantasy" with Bubber Miley, The Carnegie Hall version of "Come Sunday," and the 1928 "Black Beauty," as well as maybe a song like "Chelsea Bridge" or "Perdido" to replace "Take it Easy" or "Back Room Romp," I realize that nobody can limit an Ellington CD to 21 recordings and please everybody, and Ken Burns has done a better job on this one than any other I've seen.

Almost Perfect Collection.......2001-09-27

This collection is a good introduction to the Duke..but not perfect. I understand how difficult it is to compile a "best of" collection of jazz's greatest composer and bandleader on just one disc, but still, there are a few glaring mistakes.

First off, there was too much material from the twenties and thirties, and not nearly enough from the early forties and from Duke's post-Newport-comeback years. Early recordings like "Back Room Romp", "Creole Rhapsody", "Creole Love Call", and "Take it Easy" can't compare with forties classics like "Chelsea Bridge", "I Got it Bad", and "Perdido". And from Duke's later years I would pick The Far East Suite's "Tourist Point of View", and "...And His Mother Called Him Bill"'s beautiful piano solo "Lotus Blossom". And speaking of beautiful piano solos, the original version of "Black Beauty" is greatly superior to the 1960 one with Ray Nance's cornet.

On the other hand, Columbia did an otherwise great job of this collection. They used recordings from other labels, such as RCA, and the featured renditions of "Sophisticated Lady" and "Satin Doll" are the best ones around. It was also great to hear Johnny Hodges' "Jeep's Blues" solo from Newport.

Jazz Music:

Jazz Music

Jazz Music