Customer Reviews

The Great Paris Concert [Collectables]

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Why is this "The Great Paris Concert" ? It's just a name...but, it's true, this concert had an absurd qualite/prix ratio...Cootie, Carney,Hodges,Brown...Tone Parallel to Harlem, Suite Thursday. Nobody else I know ever played so much great music in a single concert. And the band is loose and about as crazy as they ever got in a concert hall (hear The Dance Dates on The Private Collection to see what unruly madness was really possible). But in general, concert hall concerts are not my favorite Ellington. Everything's a little too big, a little too...I don't know, "official". Rockin' In Rhythm's not really "rockin'", the Hodges specialties are perfect, but not more-or-less so than on a hundred other versions. Concerto For Cootie is some kind of weak abstract paraphrase of the original masterpiece...really disappointing, while Tutti for Cootie shows Williams at the apex of his late form. The piece is really nothing much, but it does a perfect job of framing the drama of the aged Jazz musician who can still (with a little prodding) rise to the occasion. And that's the beauty of the Ellington band of this time: it sounds old, it sounds young, it sounds timeless...Suite Thursday has become one of the sites for the debate over Early (1940's) vs. Late (1960's) Ellington. Well, this needs more analysis than I can give here. But I'll just say that that vaunted minor sixth that begins each movement has no particular structural function, so what's the big deal? The writing's kinda beautiful, but a little sketchy.Not phoned in, but not totally fleshed out either. By the way, the brass here is quite Ellingtonian but at the same time, severely frayed. Then comes a bunch of marginalia...Then the late quasi-masterpiece Bula, which self-consciously marries Ravel to 30's Ellington. Strayhorn? Follows a rockin' performance of Happy Go Lucky Local - and this particular loping groove is one of the most consistent elements of Ellington style. The only complaint: it's not really the whole chart - why not? Then, Tone Parallel to Harlem, Duke's greatest long work, in one of its first performances w/Cootie. Here, the raggedness of the brass really gets in the way. And Cootie hadn't taken it over yet. But that sax section! Unbelievable...An important performance, but not a great one.

Then, some hits,some classics...We hear Cootie declare himself an "old man" before a moving, approximate performance of Echoes of Harlem. Then Satin Doll, and so to bed. Do you need this? Caveat Emptor - but why not?

I actually own the 1989 edition of the CD...

So:

Well if this is not one of the best swing-concert albums ever (equal to Goodman's famous jamboree at the Carnegie Hall and Basie's great reunion at Newport), I'd like to hear what is...

The great Ellington sax section really shines here - listen to Hodges' solos, to the way Jimmy Hamilton and Paul Gonsalves introduce "Perdido" or to the typical Gonsalves explosion of modernist creativity on "Cop Out"... However, I must admit that I don't think Cootie Williams sounds as good here as he did in his earlier years, but he is still a joy to hear (as are the versatile Ray Nance, the stratospheric Cat Anderson or the ellegantly ellingtonian trombonist Lawrence Brown...)... The entire band (see the tags) is great! And the song sellection is a crossover between "the best of" and "the most creative of"...

BTW, "the bonus tracks" of this double CD extravaganza - tracks 4 to 13 of the second disc - were originally issued as "Duke Ellingon's Greatest Hits". No wonder, just check out the titles but also the performances... However, the first half of the album (the concert itself) is also a good way to start your Ellington romance, or to confirm your love for this true American genius.

Liked this album? Check out this as well: First Annual Connecticut Jazz Festival, Concert in the Virgin Islands, Jazz Party, Blues in Orbit...