Customer Reviews

Ellingtonia: The Recorded Music of Duke Ellington and His Sidemen (Studies in Jazz)

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This book fills in the gaps left by dodgy or absent liner notes. The main body of the text is a chronological list of Ellington band performances (including the small ensembles under sidemen's names) which were known to have been recorded and released by somebody at sometime somewhere. The typical entry includes:
a)title of ensemble (e.g. D.E. and his Famous Orchestra, Johnny Hodges and his Orchestra etc.),
b)date,
c) nature of performance (live, studio, movie sound track),
d)musicians,
e)place, and
f) titles with original record label & identifying numbers. There are occasionally notes giving variant titles.
There is also an alphabetical list of titles indicating the various recording dates and several lists and indexes of "Ellingtonians", band personnel who were connected with the Ellington organization in any way, as well as lists of record labels and the various names under which Ellington recorded.
This is entirely oriented toward identifying recordings, not compositions, so there is no composer or publishing data given. There is no interpretive or evaluative commentary.
Keep in mind that there have been several editions, as new performances are occasionally unearthed, so this is a work in progress. For example, the fifth volume of the Duke Ellington Treasury Shows, released by Storyville in 2002, included a live performance from 1945 that I did not find in Timner.

This is a huge and initially intimidating book which lists every known recording of Duke Ellington including much that has never been released. Also included are recording of 'Ellingtonians', men from the band who now and then led their own groups. Heavily indexed and cross-referenced.

I've had the 4th edition ever since it came out and I find it indespensible. Grab one now before you have to buy one used at twice the price!

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