Customer Reviews

This One's for Blanton

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album was created in the early 1970's when Norman Granz, the music impresario who founded the Verve label and the Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series in the 50's, started a new label called Pablo. He went around recording many giants of jazz in solo, duo and small group settings. Most are products of pure joy -- great musicians getting out of their normal routines and stretching out on tunes they loved.

This is no exception. It captures Duke Ellington in a (fairly) rare duo setting, playing songs he is associated with, with the great jazz bassist Ray Brown, one of the pioneers of great jazz bass. The title -- "This One's for Blanton" -- refers to the great Jimmy Blanton, who played with the Duke Ellington orchestra in the 1940's and who was an inspiration to people like Ray Brown. Hearing Ellington and Brown together is an amazing experience, as you hear two master instrumentalists deliver the essence of songs normally associated with a full jazz orchestra. The first half of the CD is Ellington standards, beautifully delivered. The last half is a suite Ellington wrote just for this occasion (I think), a superb little creation that really gives Ray Brown a stretch out and play with all of the colors that a string bass can deliver. Don't buy this as your first Ellington CD (get the Webster/Blanton CD or The Great Paris Concert), but if you like Ellington and/or jazz bass at all you need this for a different twist on the Ellington legacy.

I have to start off by paying respects and thanks to Norman Granz who produced this and many unique recordings done at the Pablo label, which he started in 1973. Without him, this great work would probably not exist.

A major influence on Ray Brown during his youth was Jimmy Blanton; a young, inventive player who worked with Duke Ellington from 1939 until his untimely death in 1942. He is considered a liberator of the bass from a strictly rhythm role to one inclusive as a solo instrument. In the spring of 1977, Ray Brown was the chief clinician at Loyola University's annual jazz festival. It was the first time I met him and had the opportunity to talk with him. One of the things I asked was if he had ever met Blanton before his death, which he had not. Since Ray's playing had a great influence on me musically, I felt very fortunate to have the chance to meet and talk with him. Whenever he was performing within a reasonable driving distance (read up to 4-5 hours), my wife and I would go to hear him. It was always worth the effort.

This album gave Ray Brown the opportunity to work with Ellington in duo setting, just piano and bass. And he had the chance to play those tunes that Blanton had played with the "Duke" during Ray's teen years. There's some great music recorded here that's worth hearing more than once. I pretty much wore out the vinyl copy of this recording when I found a copy of it soon after its original release. Anyone who is interested should try to find copies of the other Pablo albums that Ray Brown was recorded on with people like Shelley Manne, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, and others. There are probably reissues from Fantasy of those just as I found a reissue of this recording on CD a few years ago.

This a great album that deserves a place in the music library of anyone who loves jazz and who might also have a special affection for bass.

This Japanese pressing CD could be the best sounding "red book" CD I have ever heard. I think it sounds just as good as SACD or Great LP.
Perfect Music
Perfect Performance
Perfect Sound (forever)

It's been a long time since I had the idea of writing a review about this album.About this extraordinary duet session between Duke and Ray Brown,recorded December 5,1972.One of the very few records featuring the "piano player of the band", as he loved to call himself.At this time,Duke was 73,and it was one of his last recording sessions;he died one and a half year later,May 24,1974.Ray Brown was 46 (born October 13,1926).Of course,this meeting between two incredible giants is a superlative session;but tonight I may not be totally objective,because the colossus of bass,Ray Brown,died a few days ago,July 2,2002,at 75.
Ray Brown.The greatest sound that ever came out of a bass,with Mingus,Jimmy Blanton and Walter Page ("things ain't what it used to be").A complete rhythm section made of one man.A nightmare for every bass player.Or a model,an icon,as you wish.More than fifty years of musical career.He played with EVERYBODY.And also married Ella Fitzgerald.His style came straight from Jimmy Blanton ("John Hardy's wife","jumpin' punkins" recorded by Duke with Blanton,1941).Jimmy Blanton (1921-1942),only 21 years of life for the guy who gave Duke Ellington's band a stratospheric dimension.
We often speak about geniuses playing trumpet,saxophones or piano,or even drums;there are also geniuses on bass.Ray was one of them.He seemed to be indestructible,allways playing,allways on the road.But,as Reverend Gary Davis sang,death don't have no mercy in this land,and today we all have lost someone we loved.I hope he'll have a great time upstairs,meeting Bird,Stitt,Bud,Ella,Duke and all of his friends.But for us,his loss is as terrific as Tommy Flanagan's not so long ago.
I'll play this record several times tonight.I don't care,I don't have to work tomorrow.I can spend my night listening to the magical empathy between Duke and Ray,to this exceptionnal music they recorded thirty years ago.
It happened in Indianapolis,July 2;after playing golf (Ray Brown was a talented golf player,like Teddy Edwards and Sir Charles Thompson),Ray went to his hotel room to take a nap before his concert.He never wake up.So long,Mr Ray Brown,and thanks a million.

The photos of Duke accompanying this album were so unsettling I tabled playing it until recently. Several months prior to the recording I had spoken with Duke up close, received two on-the-cheek kisses from him along with an "I Love You Madly," and he did not appear nearly as decrepit as he does here, among the very last recordings that he would make.

The album was released a year after Duke's death, but with Ray Brown's passing it's a valedictory of sorts to the only bassist besides Blanton who would share a recording session with Duke exclusively. Listening to the album now, I can attest that it's a fitting memorial to all three. Ray is stronger (if that's possible) than ever--supplying mammoth cushions of sound in support of Ellington's harmonies as well as taking on at least as much of the melodic load as Ellington. If there are any doubts about who is the quintessential bass player over the past 55 years, this recording should erase them. And Ellington's genius, though merely referenced, is more evident on this session than on either of the recordings he made with Coltrane and Mingus/Roach.

This is a one of 5 albums that you would want to have on a desert isle if you are a jazz lover. Intimate and dynamic.

You would never think a bass could perform the role of a real protagonist as it does in this dramatic recording by Ray Brown. All the more so as he is playing next to a giant like the Duke! Music flows effortlessly and exudes with pathos... a unique combination, piano and bass, and this CD takes it to a peak of excellence.

Yes, this is a unique and beautiful album.
Two mature and brilliant artists working together with a clear concept and plenty of spirit, Ellington and Brown give the best possible tribute to Ellington's famous 1940's collaboration with his brilliant, influential, but prematurely deciesed bass player Jimmy Blanton.

Revisiting the past in the company of Ray Brown (one of the contributors to the be-bop revolution and one of the rocks both modern and mainstream jazz stood on at the time of the recording), Ellington once again displays why he is one of the greatest pianists and one of the greatest minds in jazz, a measure of greatness for all younger tallents..

Btw, if this date is not modern enough for your tastes, check out Ellington's great and unique collaboration with Charlie Mingus (another participant in Blanton's but also in Ellington's legacy) and Max Roach (on of the greatest modern drummers, experts say)on the album "Money Jungle" Money Jungle

In my wildest dreams, I couldn't have imagined that the piano/bass combination could be so interesting and creative. This is not your typical album. While several songs receive traditional jazz treatments, many are unusually creative, both harmonically and rhythmically. Wonderful listening!!!

One of my musicians and composers. The one who made me love jazz as to so many millions of people. Someone who is part of my life and my thoughts is Mr. Duke Ellington. I love his music, his orchestra, the way he composed for an orchestra that never died and always kept alive despite the bop, hard bop, etc... The most imaginative orchestra led by the most innovative of the conductors, composers and men of jazz. Well, with this record, he made me confirm that there's no other jazzman like him. I heard "Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me" and never missed the band, he and the excellent bass player Ray Brown invented the big band for two. And the rest of the tracks give you the same sensation. The old man kept on being bold and audacious till the end of his life. Creating with Mr. Brown, with Mr. Coltrane, with whoever. He was able to do anything and this album is the evidence.

Bless you, Duke. I envy those who are in heaven with you.