Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins

Artist: Duke Ellington w , and Coleman Hawkins
Label: Grp Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 011105016223
EAN: 0011105016223
ASIN: B000003N7P

Release Date: 1995-10-24

Related Categories:

General

| Jazz | Styles | Music

Swing General

| Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

GRP

| Verve Music Group | Specialty Stores | Music

Listmania:

Best Albums of 1962
My Favorite Jazz Albums
Important Jazz Recordings
Ellington and Strayhorn's Genius in no order really
A MIX CD FOR MY SON
The Jazz list
Duke Ellington: best of the best of the best

Tracks:

Limbo Jazz
Mood Indigo
Ray Charles' Place
Wanderlust
You Dirty Dog
Self Portrait (Of The Bean)
The Jeep Is Jumpin'
The Ricitic
Solitude

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Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
Side by Side
Body & Soul
Play the Blues Back to Back
Pres and Teddy

Customer Reviews:

Do you shop at Trader Joe's?.......2006-01-06

Well, if you do, they have this coffee blend. It's called the Smooth and Mellow Blend.

This is its audio equivalent.

Just listen to Solitude.

But this is not decaf.

This is the real deal.

Coleman Hawkins may well be my favorite saxophoist of all time. His smooth, caressing touch put the sex in the old sex-a-phone.

The Duke is the same in his role as composer and pianist. Mellow masterpieces flowed from and through him like a lazy, ceaseless river on its journey to the sea.

And here the meeting is Oceanic.

Smooth and Mellow Blend.

This has not gotten the due it deserves.......2005-04-23

This came out when the Avant Garde (which I love dearly) was getting most of the jazz critic's attention. This sessions was probly seen as old hat and has obviously been overlooked over the years. None of the really matters, because we are lucky to have this record, regardless if anyone knows about it or not. First, the sound quality on this record is rediculously great, it sounds as Hawk is playing in the same room as the stereo. The set list is reminisent of a small ground Ellington-Little Jazz/Blues setting. These songs aren't his best, most complex, or his most heartfealt. But they are fun, easily enjoyable. "Mood Indigo" is an amazing feature for Coleman Hawkins, a great inventor on the tenor sax. Ray Nance, as another reviewer said performs great, as he usually does. Harry Carney,Johnny Hodjes, Larwence Brown, Aaron Bell, Duke And Sam Woodyard all put in great Performences as well. Recommended

Duke Elegant meets Soul Man Hawkins.......2005-04-08

If music isn't universally seen as the highest art form, we still find ourselves transported by it. The most elegiaic ballad and the catchiest pop song are able to take us to different worlds, remind us of lovers, stir us up, soothe our souls, wound, heal, and all in the span of a few minutes. And so we find ourselves reaching for image and metaphor to describe, if not explain, just what great music does to us, for us, with us.

And this is great music. All the songs are Ellington compositions, so you're already benefiting from one of the most important American composers of the 20th century. What makes this album so great, though, is the band . . .

This small combo is a band with which Ellington was very comfortable. Hawkins seamlessly weaves in his playing, although he had never before sat in with these gentlemen. The styles of playing differ in texture among these fine players, but the performances fit, rely on each other, ultimately elevate one another, because this handful of artists share a vision stemming from their pure love of music.

These are musicians and composers of such talent that their playing never seems or sounds like solo performances. I think they were all working together on the same painting, or nine separate paintings to be more precise, well eleven actually since we know sadly that there were two lost performances. But painting they were, all together on the same work. And they come up with a masterpiece of skill, soul, heart, and mind.

This is intelligent jazz, but you don't have to think about it to enjoy it. This is soulful music, but not melancholy.

When my daughter's husband, Jules, gave me this album for Christmas I eagerly anticipated hearing and enjoying two musicians I love and respect play together. During my first listenings I wanted to hear more Ellington. I realized after a while that his notes are perfectly placed to accent, accentuate and encourage. He's the consumate leader and fan at the same time.

At times I've listened to this album several times in a row. It sounds different every time, because the playing is so alive it changes within the listener's ears.

I told Jules that this one album could teach me everything there is to know about jazz. Maybe that's a slight over-statetment. Maybe. But only slightly.

masterpiece.......2004-07-27

The record shines, end to end. From the opening Limbo Jazz (supposedly just a warmup, you can hear Aaron Bell singing to himself in the background), through to the deep well of Solitude, the musicianship and chemistry is all there. (Consider for a moment how many years collective musical experience are on this CD - this was recorded in the early 60s.) Hawk plays as well on this as on anything he ever did - you can almost feel the mutual respect and admiration between him and Duke - and Duke's men support him with sensitivity and aplomb. Hodges in particular contributes wonderful single chorus gems on Wanderlust (a midtempo blues pinned down by Bell and Sam Woodyard) and The Jeep is Jumping, where, after further solos from Harry Carney, Lawrence Brown and Ray Nance, Hawk lays down two chorusses that make the sweat break out. He is at his harmonic and rhythmic best. Sam Woodyard steps up the pace with the snare on the second chorus.

Duke's tribute Self Portrait of the Bean is another gem, Hawk plays two wonderfully understated chorusses, low to high register, and let's the beautiful melody work through his incredible sound, while the rest of the horns wail an accompaniment.

Every track has jewels to be found - listen out for Duke's variations in approach on Wanderlust, as he keeps the simple 12 bar format from sounding repetitive from soloist to soloist. But the cream - for me - is the stellar Solitude. After a dramatic Dukish intro, Ray Nance states the theme in F major on violin. Then they move to Db for Hawk to give his version. It's some version. He adopts a style of rhythm and phrasing that is almost conversational, choosing always melodicism and subtlety over technical or harmonic trickery. This kind of playing can't be faked, or taught in school. A chorus in, Woodyard announces the second chapter with the simplest and most elegant of cymbal hits, then Nance returns to begin adding simple fills. Duke joins in with some bell-like phrases, perfectly judged. Sublime. All the while, Aaron Bell's bass continues, unfailing, like the tramping feet of a pilgrim.

...for true jazz heads only..........2003-02-15

coleman hawkins is quoted on this thang as sayin it took nearly 20 years for duke and him to get together/so this was an extremely anticipated event within the jazz-world-realms... (okay, enough insight, yall know i dont do that!) ...if you grew up lissenin to more jazz than you did r&b or soul music or classical, then get this, you proly gonna dig it... if you are over 40 and you love traditional jazz, then get this...
i love this disc, it is excellent american music/i jus dont make the time to lissen to this the way i would like to...

i recommend this for the serious jazz heads only... start with duke's collabo with coltrane over this one/get that one first and if you really feel it, keep this one in mind for later....

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