His Mother Called Him Bill

Duke Ellington | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000002W99
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,126 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Boo-Dah

2. U.M.M.G. (Upper Manhattan Medical Group)

3. Blood Count

4. Smada [#]

5. Rock Skippin' at the Blue Note

6. Rain Check

7. Midriff [#]

8. My Little Brown Book [#]

9. Lotus Blossom

10. Snibor

11. After All

12. All Day Long

13. Lotus Blossom [#]

14. Day Dream

15. The Intimacy of the Blues

16. Charpoy

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This 1967 tribute to Duke's right-hand man and "Take the 'A' Train" composer Billy Strayhorn is one of the Ellington band's truest late-period masterpieces. Blowing out the back doors with their tears, the group rumbles through the likes of "Blood Count" and "Day-dream," with their leader also contributing an immensely touching solo-piano version of "Lotus Blossom." --Rickey Wright

Product Description

Special 24bit K2 Japanese limited edition issue of the album classic in a deluxe, miniaturized LP sleeve replica of the original vinyl album artwork. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars his father, too., May 1, 2003

By 

smurdge - See all my reviews

This review is from: His Mother Called Him Bill (Audio CD)

Duke recorded this tribute to his partner Billy Strayhorn only three months after Strayhorn's death at 52 from esophogeal cancer, while the shock and grief were still fresh- and it comes through on the record. Even the upbeat tunes have a kind of elegaic quality to them.

Many of Duke's greatest musicians were still with him: Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Paul Gonsalves, Cootie Williams, Clark Terry and Sam Woodyard. Highlights are Hodges' keening, mourning solo on Blood Count, Terry's happy bubbling playing on U.M.M.G, Duke's impromptu piano solo rendition of Lotus Blossom, and a beautiful, sensual rendition of My Little brown Book, (much improved without the lyrics). Blood Count and Lotus Blossom especially express the love Duke and his men felt for Strayhorn and his music better than words ever could.

Though the intention was to record the best of Strayhorn's compositions, there are some mediocre tunes here: Snibor, All Day Long, and 2 takes of Smada (basically a minor riff with Jimmy Hamilton aimlessly noodling on top). These tunes are entertaining and well played, but not top-drawer Strayhorn. Chelsea Bridge or Clementine, (among others), would've been better choices, though I can understand them not wanting to do Take the A Train for the 4,000,000th time! There is also one Ellington compostion, Acht O'Clock Rock, which is pretty much ruined by Cat Anderson's high-note Cat-erwauling (there always has to be one tune ruined by Cat- it was a band rule or something).

The Bluebird first editions series is very nice- excellent sound quality, nice digi-pak with the original LP covers reproduced, good notes. Hopefully we'll see more than just the usual RCA suspects released on this series in the future.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Find this record and buy it, June 5, 2001

By 

johnnyqb (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: His Mother Called Him Bill (Audio CD)

This is my favorite Ellington album, and the fact that he put it out when he was 67 years old is perhaps un-equalled in the history of recorded music. Billy Strayhorn had just died, and the band played his greatest compositions with tremendous urgency and freshness. I own around 200 jazz cd's. and this is one of the five greatest. This is utterly indispensable music. If you have a jazz collection and you do not have this, you are missing out on a true classic.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the Greatest Big Band Recording Ever, March 14, 2004

By 

James Skrydlak "mostlymozart" (Pella, Iowa) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: His Mother Called Him Bill (Audio CD)

My very first Duke Ellington LP, and one of my first jazz recordings, was the original version of this. It opened up new horizons for me the first time I listened to it, and it has satisfied me time and time again over the intervening thirty-five years, revealing new aspects over time.

Billy Strayhorn was an extraordinary composer of songs in the jazz idiom, one who, as did Jerome Kern and George Gershwin, brought an extensive knowledge of harmony and the classical repertoire to his work. The songs on this CD swing; at times, they swing very hard. What sets them apart from many others of the same vintage is the depth that the unusual harmonies give them. What sets these performances apart is the commitment and emotion that the giants in Ellington's band brought to these sessions. Aaron Bell and Steve Little, the bass player and drummer on most of these cuts, are absolutely outstanding, as are Clark Terry on flugelhorn in Boo-Dah and John Sanders on valve trombone in Rain Check.

The real star among the musicians, though, is Johnnie Hodges, who shines in Blood Count, After All, and Day-Dream, among others. Blood Count established itself as my favorite song on the LP the first time I heard it, and I have never found it necessary to revise that opinion. It starts out sounding like something from a film noir detective movie from the 1950s, but quickly transforms itself into something truly unique in the annals of jazz.

Ultimately, though, it's pointless to look for a favorite here. My own opinion is that all the cuts on the original LP are just about uniformly excellent; the previously unreleased tracks aren't quite as good. They're simply a bonus. With or without them, this is one of the great jazz recordings, and a truly fitting tribute to a giant of a songwriter who really ought to be far better known.