Customer Reviews

Intimacy of the Blues

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Duke Ellington, who spent just about every waking moment writing music, loved to assemble his orchestra in recording studios, at his own expense, and try out his musical ideas on the band, making adjustments based on what he heard. (Much of this material was recorded at the time and subsequently issued on CDs.) The first six sides on this CD, which comprise what Duke referred to as THE COMBO SUITE, are of this nature.

Having just returned from a tour of Europe a week earlier, he brought into the studio 8 members of the band to work on some new compositions. The results are very interesting. The title track, which would occasionally be played in later concert appearances, is a nice blues with good solos by Johnny Hodges and Lawrence Brown. OUT SOUTH is a quiet gospel tune, while TELL ME 'BOUT MY BABY is broiling with excellent Cat Anderson on muted trumpet. Paul Gonsalves is featured on the up-tempo NEAR NORTH, and the handsome blues KENTUCKY AVENUE has good solos all around. THE COMBO SUITE is a nice addition to the Ellington repertory, and I'm glad it was recorded that day and brought out by Fantasy 18 years later.

The rest of the material on this CD comes from various sessions in 1970, and some feature Wild Bill Davis on organ. All are small-group recordings; ALL TOO SOON is by a quintet that features Harold Ashby on tenor. JUST A SITTIN' AND A ROCKIN' has Norris Turney playing flute in the part usually played by the whole orchestra as the tenor player (going all the way back to Ben Webster) states the theme. It's a bit of a shock at first, but turns out very classy. This is a most enjoyable CD that Ellington fans should certainly latch on to.

This completely instrumental album was recorded late in Duke's career in two separate styles...the first half with swinging blues numbers and the second with Duke on the organ during some interesting but tasteful jazz numbers. "Intamacy of the Blues", "Kentucky Avenue, A.C.", and "Out South" are three of my favorites...excellent tracks to listen to and rare finds!

I'm sorry, I don't want to be mean, but this just isn't that good. Why did Duke want to stockpile all of this stuff? I don't feel much of his sensibility through it, and the recording of Sittin' and a Rockin' is downright trivial. The supressed wailing energy is what makes the original such a classic - an amazing Ellingtonian use of understatement, here replaced by "Funky Jazz" cliches. And the idea of using organ is potentially a good one, but Wild Bill Davis isn't the man. And Harold Ashby is the wrong choice for All Too Soon - it's OK, but not more. There are things about late Ellington I don't understand, and many of them are included on this disc. For a man who worked so many amazing changes on the blues form, these blues pieces are just simply substandard.