Very Best of Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 7, 2000)
• Original Release Date: November 7, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000050G83
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,226 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

20 selections starting with Take the "A" Train!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent sampler, May 31, 2001

By 

"pspa" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Very Best of Duke Ellington (Audio CD)

It is of course impossible to produce a one CD "best of" Duke Ellington without a certain degree of arbitrariness and inevitable key omissions, but leaving that aside, this is a delightful compilation, one of the best one CD compilations available. One has to make some allowances too for the age of the recordings (for some reason old Ellington recordings never sound quite as clean as Armstrong recordings from the same time period), but RCA has done a very good job with the remastering and the CD by and large sounds better than, for example, the Ken Burns compilation.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Great Duke Ellington!, May 16, 2003

By 

Evelyn O. Simon "webstore owner" (South Florida. U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Very Best of Duke Ellington (Audio CD)

Once again, I am back with a Duke review. And I say, "SUPERB!" My favorite is, "Take the A train" among others. The level of the bass on this song must have been heart pounding when heard live, judging from this CD; I'd say it was very noticeable. There was a hint of old recording crackling in the background when heard through earphones, but the recordings really were very clear. I could listen to this CD all day long. Another great CD I recommend.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Inconsistency at its finest, March 2, 2005

By 

Roget "Riviera" (France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Very Best of Duke Ellington (Audio CD)

This CDs recordings span 40 years, and that should account for some of the difference in sound quality. However, I have some of these same records in my collection, which sound better and cleaner than the transfers here. "Warm Valley" is particularly disappointing; there is substantial swish and crackle throughout which could have been minimized very easily. Some of the work is wonderful, some is awful. I would expect better from BMG.