Duke: The Complete Works 1924-1947 [Box set, Import]

Duke Ellington (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 25, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Box set, Import
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Proper Box UK
• ASIN: B00004LMT0
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #421,339 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Choo Choo (Gotta Hurry Home)

2. Rainy Nights

3. Im Gonna Hang Around My Sugar

4. Trombone Blues

5. Georgia Grind

6. Parlor Social Stomp

7. (Youve Got Those) Wanna Go Back Again Blues

8. If You Cant Hold The Man You Love

9. Animal Crackers

10. Lil Farina

11. East St Louis Toodle 0

12. Birmingham Breakdown

13. Immigration Blues

14. The Creeper

15. New Orleans Low Down

16. Song Of The Cotton Field

17. Birmingham Breakdown

18. East St Louis Toodle Oo

19. East St Louis Toodle Oo

20. Hop Head

See all 99 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Unbelievable Collection at an Incredible Price!!, June 20, 2002

By 

D. Glassner "dah-boot" (West Hollywood, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Duke: The Complete Works 1924-1947 (Audio CD)

Don't be fooled by the bargain price of this collection, this is the only way to aquire Duke's complete works from 1924-1945 (the collection states it goes up to '47, but past '45 it gets a little less complete) across 40 compact discs, packaged in 20 slimline jewel cases.

The sound quality is stunning, to my ears much better than the domestic RCA recordings that sell for 10 to 20 times more. (I compared sound quality between this and RCA's Blanton-Webster set.) Here is what you DON'T get: fancy booklets, fancy artwork, extensive liner notes. Basically this is just the music, with session players and recording dates.

The music is indispensable. Gorgeous.

EDIT: Yes, it's been a while, and while I was comparing it to the pre-1999 (i.e. Centennial Edition) version of Blanton-Webster, against which this sounds better, I have since heard The Centennial Edition remasters, and they are infinitely better than the No Noised versions found here. Still a great set in terms of value, but if you wind up getting bitten hard by the Ellington "Kissing Bug," you will at some point upgrade to some of the better mastering jobs out there.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The bargain of the century., September 30, 2002

By 

Yul S. Pariah (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Duke: The Complete Works 1924-1947 (Audio CD)

I have nothing to add to the previous reviewer. I only wish to second his/her praise of this set. This is absolutely one of the most incredible bargains in recorded music. Forty CDs of Duke Ellington's complete recorded output from the first half of his long career. If you are especially fond of the early Cotton Club/"Jungle music" years, as I am, you get it all here, in incredibly good sound. The sound quality is easily as good, if not better than the expensive lavishly packaged name-brand releases of this same material. Basically, what you have is 20 "slimline" jewel boxes (which are exactly like ordinary jewel boxes, except that they hold two CDs) inside a simple cardboard box. Each jewel box has a two page mini-bio of Duke Ellington (the same in every booklet) followed by a detailed date, location, and personnel listing for each and every track. Everything you need is here, but nothing extra, which at this price, is nothing to complain about. I simply discarded the box and put the 20 jewel boxes on my shelf in chronological order. They look great, sound great, and the price is mind boggling. Take two...they're small....NOT!!!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Quite Complete, March 28, 2007

By 

Patto53 "graemetwtd" (Lawson, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Duke: The Complete Works 1924-1947 (Audio CD)

The Complete Works 1924-47 is a great bargain but it is NOT complete! It does not include alternate takes, only the official releases, which is not really of concern except to completists. The vast number of radio transcriptions are not even sampled. There are missed songs throughout including several of the very early releases. Most seriously, it misses 20 releases from late 1939 to early 1940 and completely botches up 1946-47. The former are absolutely critical as they include the seminal first recordings with Jimmie Blanton and Blanton/Ben Webster. Besides scrambling the Chronological order, the 1946-47 misses out on most of the Musicraft recordings (most of which are very good) and almost all of the Columbia recordings up to the recording ban at the end of 1947 (not a great loss). The recordings have been re-equalised into stereo and amplified. The addition of bottom end and some top end actally makes them sound more open. Maybe not for purests but I find quite acceptable compared to the 'natural' releases and I tend to be a purest.

The set is erratically based on the Classics Records 'Chronological' series which are now mostly out of pressing and being very eratically reissued by Naxos. To fill the holes you will need to get, if you can, Classics 1939-40 (definitely), 1946-47 (worthwhile), 1947, 1947-48. Luckily there is minimal overlap of tracks.