Customer Reviews

Duke Ellington: Blues in Orbit (Columbia Jazz Masterpieces)

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4 star:		(1)
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"Blues in Orbit" seems to get overlooked when Ellington's best albums are discussed, but it is a real keeper. There are 14 tracks, none of them is longer than 4:50 and it is all good stuff. There are some familiar favorites like "In a Mellotone" and "C Jam Blues" as well as less often heard gems like "Blues in Blueprint and "Sweet and Pungent". It is also in stereo, which doesn't hurt matters.

The featured performers include Ellington stalwarts Johnny Hodges, Ray Nance, Harry Carney and Jimmy Hamilton, as well as the less familiar Booty Wood and Matthew Gee. Johnny, in particular is well showcased here, taking the lead not only in slow pieces like "Brown Penny" and "Sentimental Lady", but also in the rousing, "Smada", which is probably my favorite track. Ray shines on his trumpet, but also gets to play the violin on "C Jam Blues".

Among Duke's later works (post-1950), "Ellington at Newport" and "Far East Suite" are more famous, but I have all three on CD and find myself listening to this one more than either of those two. If you like Ellington or 50's era jazz, I don't see how you can't like this album.

This is by far one of my favorite Duke Ellington albums to date. I have not found and album since which makes me smile after I listen to it like this one does.

Why this album is not better known is a mystery to me. The album overflows with one excellent arrangement after another, often harkening back to a traditional 12-bar blues format. The band has a bizarre arrangement of personnel, with only the single trumpet of Ray Nance going up against a full reed section, but you would never know that anything was out of the ordinary from the sound of the band.

My particular favorites on this album include "Smada" featuring reed work by Johnny Hodges that matches up with anything that he ever did; "Track 360," and some great blues arrangements, "Pie Eye's Blues," "The Singers Get the Blues, Too," and "The Swinger's Jump" (what a great way to end an album!).

This is one of my very favorite Ellington recordings, one I never tire of listening to. It took a long time for me to find a copy of this CD, and I am forever grateful that I did.

The hard-to-find Blues In Orbit is a must have for any fans of Duke Ellington. I bought my copy second hand and it was worth the extra cost in order to have it in my collection. Blues In Orbit provides the listener with cool jazz. Highly recommended with a well made martini!

It would have been fitting for this fine release to have been MFSL's last; alas, this one was numbered 757, and the mediocre Roy Orbison disk titled "Lonely and Blue" laid claim to 758. Unlike some of Ellington's more grandiose and much less satisfying efforts, this one features his band just playing some tunes, and the end result is pleasant and swinging. Recorded in 1959, the sound quality is excellent, with just a hint of murkiness on the bottom end and tendency for some of the solo instruments to stick to the speakers detracting from what is generally a strikingly realistic sonic presentation. Duke Ellington fans will doubtless be looking hard trying to find copies of this release; I'm not a Duke fan myself, but I plan to hold on to my copy, which I will pretend was MFSL's last. They deserved to go out on a grand note.

An overlooked classic, Ellington fans should pick up this late 50's masterpiece. Fascinating production touches throughout, I was amazed by
the song 'Track 360', in which Ellington makes his band sound like a train. Inventive and propulsive.

At the time his trumpet section was being rearranged and thus, for the most songs on this great album, reduced to one (and only) Ray Nance, Ellington still had all his arranging capabilities and other players at his disposal (and Nance, luckily plays the violin as well).
The core ensemble of this CD is Ray Nance (tp, vi), Britt Woodman, Bootie Wood, Matthew Gee (tb), Russell Procope, Johny Hodges, Jimmy Hamilton, Paul Gonsalves, Harry Carney (reeds), Ellington (p), Jimmy Woode (b), Jimmy Johnson (dm); with Strayhorn sitting in instead of Ellington on two numbers, with Quentin Jackson and John Sanders on trombon section in some song, etc, etc...
The version of "C jam blues" is classical and well known, whereas one can hardly say which is better - "Smada", "Sweet and Pungent", "In A Mellotone"...

A must Have.

I ran across this Ellington LP in the early 70s, and loved it. Maybe it is because it is in stereo - with some pretty heavy reverb - that many people pass it by; you know, the best Ellington must be mono or older or certainly not have late 50s reverb clouding it up, etc. Well, this is one of Duke's finest, most swinging albums with great straight ahead arrangements. The LP is pretty beat, but I had a friend transfer it to CD with some noise reduction so I can listen to it...but how I'd LOVE to have this CD. I guess I'll wait in line.