Customer Reviews

Jazz Icons: Duke Ellington Live in '58

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This is possibly the best Duke Ellington's Orchestra concert on DVD (and I buy every Duke dvd I see) Paul Gonsalve's performance on "Diminuendo In Blue & Crescendo In Blue" is worth the price of the DVD alone. Not only is he playing his heart out, the rest of the band is obviously enjoying it. Other great solo performances includes Johnny Hodges's "All of Me" and "Things Ain't What They Used To Be", Shorty Baker and Ray Nance on "Mr. Gentle & Mr. Cool" & Sam Woodyard's "Hi Fi Fo-Fum". I can go on and on just describing how wonderful this concert is.

I highly recommend this one!

The Jazz Icons series released 16 videos through 2007, each featuring a different jazz artist. This is the fifth one that I've acquired, and so far they've all been great. Somebody should give these people an award for their efforts to preserve American culture by searching international video archives.
Video quality is unavoidably limited by what's found in those archives, in this case a November 1958 concert in Amsterdam that was recorded for TV broadcast. The black & white video is very grainy and lacks adequate contrast in some scenes. The audio is mono, but the sound quality excellent - clear and well balanced.
The show starts out slow and mellow, but the energy level picks up when they get to "Rockin' in Rhythm." The program includes several well-known Ellington standards, such as "Black and Tan Fantasy," "Creole Love Call," "Sophisticated Lady" (featuring, of course, the baritone sax of Harry Carney), "Things Ain't What They Used To Be" (as a vehicle for alto sax star Johnny Hodges), "Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue" (with tenor man Paul Gonsalves recreating the excitement of the classic Newport 1956 recording), and a 10-song Ellington medley. Noticeably absent is "Take the A Train."
A couple of my favorite moments: a young but already accomplished Clark Terry featured on trumpet in "Harlem Air Shaft" and a stoic but musically expressive Johnny Hodges working his magic on "All of Me." Also enjoyable are the finishing touches that Cat Anderson adds to some of the arrangements as he ventures into a frequency range that the trumpet was never intended to reach.
The package includes an informative 24-page booklet offering a detailed history of this concert tour and other interesting anecdotes about Ellington and his sidemen. One of the things we learn from these notes is that the concert video was done near the end of a grueling several weeks for the band, doing shows in different cities almost every night. That explains why many in the band look tired in this performance. But remarkably, they don't sound tired, and that's what is important.
Fans of Ellington, and classic big bands in general, should pick this up without hesitation, despite the inescapable limitations of half-century old video.

As one of my friends says; "I love Ellington more than life itself". I never got to see the Ellington Orchestra in person so it's mighty thrilling to watch this. My only complaint is that the technological limits of the time meant that black folk's images didn't translate well to video. The members of the band with the darkest skin look like black blobs without facial expressions some of the time. Even so, I highly recommend this disc. Just to see Duke leading his men and exclaiming "Johnny Hodges!" in his inimitable way...spine tingling.

Duke Ellington: piano, Jimmy Woode: bass, Sam Woodyard: drums
Johnny Hodges: alto sax
Russell Procope: alto sax, clarinet
Paul Gonsalves: tenor sax
Jimmy Hamilton: tenor sax, clarinet
Harry Carney: baritone sax, bass clarinet
Clark Terry, Shorty Baker, and Cat Anderson: trumpet
Ray Nance: trumpet, violin
Quentin Jackson and Britt Woodman: trombone
John Sanders: valve trombone
Ozzie Bailey: vocal.
With good sound, good black and white images, and expert camera work this DVD re creates the experience of being at the concert even down to ligering at the end to watch the musicians pack up and leave.
The entire concert isn't there but there's plenty that is and, as you'd expect, it's great stuff.

To have a complete concert of Duke Ellington when the band was still at the height of its powers is a dream come true. A group of us also marveled at the amazing sound on my 5 speaker home theater, and the concert is from 1958! I love the 'Reeling in the Years' production group and hope they keep on finding these wonderful rarities.

This DVD is almost too amazing to be able to speak about coherently. This is the great Ellington band that is not given nearly enough credit for being, at least potentially, the equal of the 1940 - 43 band. And to SEE it in all of its roaring and purring glory is almost too emotionally draining an experience. Where to begin? This was the last time that all 4 sections of the band were equally great, but you've really got to take your mind off the soloists for a minute and pay attention to that incredible trombone section - the second and last time that Duke had one of this caliber. And Jimmy Woode on bass is a really unsung hero - he has the best hookup that any Ellington bassist had with drummer Sam Woodyard. Of course the reed section is more than legendary. The trumpets are perfect, but they don't have any particular standout moments as a section here - although each of them plays magnificently in their solo spots (Baker in Mr. Gentle, Anderson in Dim. and Cresc., Terry - wonderful! - in Harlem Air Shaft. And Nance all over the place). I'm not a real fan of the medley of hits, but even it is full of high points. Best things? Harlem Airshaft, the opening '20's medley, Rockin' In Rhythm,Dim. and Cresc. (although it's played a little too fast), the Hodges features. Most unsung great playing? Trombonist Quentin Jackson, every time he's heard. Low points? None, really. The drum feature (Hi Fi Fo Fum) is just what it is; I tuned out a bit, but Ellington concerts were pretty democratic - something for everyone. If I would be SUPER hyper-critical, I might say that some of the more "concert - y" moments - odd rubatos and ritards - are not my favorite developments in the Ellington musical language. But this was a thing of the time, connected to the band's playing more and more concert halls and fewer and fewer dances. One thing: I can't believe that the audience stayed so polite at the end. I was on my feet giving the standing ovation I guess they were just a little too Dutch to give!

At aged 15 I asked my cousin, who had similar musical tastes to myself both classical and jazz but who had served in WW11 as an airman and travelled the world, "Tell me your greatest musical experience" - he said " Seeing the 1942 Duke Ellington band live in New York." It's a big call for one to say what has been the greatest musical experience one has had - there may the Berlin Philharmonic, Aida, Louis Armstrong, Wagner, Richter, Bob Dylan, etc, etc and some say it's a silly exercise anyway. Maybe it is. Nevertheless, my cousin never recovered from his experience of the band. Some idea of Mr Ellington's magic may be garnered from the clarinet of Jimmy Hamilton on My Funny Valentine, not a Duke staple, which puts the Duke experience in perspective. Electricity was in the air, with no applause at the end of this solo just stunned silence. The Duke Ellington band - of whatever era - had such depth of talent that very very few groups come close. Add to this the arrangements, writing and leadership, then we can only relish the recorded legacy that exists and marvel. This DVD is a great experience.

My title says it all. This video, beautifully rendered from a 1958 performance is stunning. The sound is excellent. Unknown to most of the world at the time of this performance, Duke Ellington was walking around with the greatest band in the world--after witnessing this concert, perhaps the greatest band ever.

I am about to buy this from Amazon, so this review is based on a Netflix rental. I have been renting jazz DVDs from Netflix for a good while now, and a lot are spotty, either visually or regarding sound. This one to me is a distillation of all that was excellent about Ellington. I'm buying it for many reasons: first, Johnny Hodges. How often do you get to see him play two entire pieces, beautifully and regally, rather than two breaks? Second, previously unknown to me, Ozzie Bailey. His "In My Solitude" is now my favorite vocal rendition of any song by anybody. Third, Paul Gonsalves. I've seen partial footage of his 27-chorus "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" (or vice-versa, forgot) on Ken Burns' Jazz series, and this is just like it, truly makes you want to dance. Even his bandmates couldn't keep still. Fourth, Ray Nance singing and moving to "It Don't Mean a Thing..." I usually don't get excited about jazz vocals, but these guys are the exception. Fifth, Sam Woodyard's very creative drum solo, punctuated by great band work. Sixth, Ellington himself, with wonderful piano solos and comping and unmatched stage presence. And seventh, Jimmy Hamilton playing my favorite instrument the clarinet on "My Funny Valentine." He was way beyond good. And finally, on the visual side, was there ever anybody more handsome in jazz than Johnny Hodges and Jimmy Hamilton when this was filmed? Important in jazz? No, but icing on the cake! I watched this rental twice and realized I had to have it in my permanent collection.

Duke Ellington: Live in '58, part of the Jazz Icons video series, shows the Ellington band at the top of its game. The November 1958 concert at Amsterdam's famed Concertgebouw was filmed for television and also recorded for radio broadcast. The result is a gem: a great little black-and-white jazz film, a bit grainy due to late fifties technological limitations, but with robust sound. It fully captures the magic of an Ellington date. See my full review at my Riffs on Jazz blog.