Concert in the Virgin Islands

Artist: Duke Ellington
Label: Collectables
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Live
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 090431673423
EAN: 0090431673423
ASIN: B0007QJ206

Release Date: 2005-04-12

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Listmania:

Ellington and Strayhorn's Genius in no order really

Tracks:

Island Virgin0
Virgin Jungle
Fiddler On the Diddle
Jungle Kitty
Things Aint What They Used To Be
Big Fat Alices Blues
Chelsea Bridge
The Opener
Mysterious Chick1
Barefoot Stomper
Fade Up

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Customer Reviews:

Correction - it's a studio recording, not live, but great stuff.......2006-07-19

A lot of reviewers panned this recording, but you must take it in perspective. In 1965, Ellington was penning a lot of long concept pieces. By comparison, this is a collection of top-notch big band music. The reviewers were disappointed that it did not fit with the repertoire he was otherwise producing at the time.

The concept for this album is that this is a set of tunes that Ellington would have played, had he performed a Concert in the Virgin Islands. But it was recorded in the studio, not in the Virgin Islands. The fidelity is better than most digitally mastered CDs of today, because it is free of the artifical gimmicry that's used to over-brighten modern recordings.

The first four tunes represent the "Virgin Island Suite". "Island Virgin" gets us off to a relaxed start, featuring some very nicely built structures with the reed section and short statements by the soloists. This is followed by "Virgin Jungle" where you can imagine a hunt and chase going on, the prey hiding behind trees and rocks. This tune is led by the clarinet and has some marvelous minor-key work in it (who was his clarinet man in '65?). In the "For What It's Worth" department, I heard Phil Woods' alto saxophone in a quartet setting doing this number and there sure is a lot of melody to wring out of it! "Fiddler on the Diddle" showcases the too-rarely-heard violin of Ray Nance in a call-and-response format with the orchestra, with more of a "let's think about it" feel than anything else. Finally, "Jungle Kitty" is the high energy romp through the jungle, with Cat Anderson's trumpet playing the role of a very boppish Kitty, the tune closing with a tritone up and down wail.

The remaining numbers are excellent reads of standards from the Ellington repertoire, mixed with a few new ones. "Big Fat Alice's Blues" features Johnny Hodges, and if anybody asks you what the blues should sound like, just play that tune. The reading of "Chelsea Bridge" is equally profound. "The Opener" is as classic a big band swing tune as you'll find anywyere, "Things Ain't What They Used To Be" swings as hard as any rendition of it anywhere and "Barefoot Stomper", "Mysterious Chick" and "Fade Up" are wholly listenable "fill" material that give the soloists good footing.

I recommend it, but please view it as a worthy addition to the repertoire more representative of Ellington in the mid-1940s - just with more polished soloists and the blessing of great recording fidelity.

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