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First, let's talk about the actual music compiled on this set. If one is looking for a good set as an introduction to the WHOLE of Ellington's long career, this is the set to get. Some of Ellington's biggest fans complain that certain songs are missing. Everyone has their favorites, and with only 2 discs, SOME stuff has to be left out. The man recorded for almost 50 years! An equivalent would be assembling a 10-song Beatles Greatest Hits. No matter WHAT the song choice, there would be more 1-star reviews than anything else, from people complaining that stuff was left out.
Here is the problem with most Duke compilations: until very recently, a fairly complete overview of Ellington's ENTIRE career was nearly impossible. In the early days of jazz, many musicians, especially black musicians, got the shaft with recording contracts. Consequently, many would jump ship to other labels to get a better deal. Ellington recorded for over a dozen different labels. Well, nearly all of those labels became defunct, and were later absorbed by bigger companies. So, in order to get an Ellington compilation that's somewhat complete, you would have to buy something from Sony/Columbia/Legacy and another from BMG/RCA. Those two companies owned the vast bulk of Ellingtonia. Well, in late 2004, Sony acquired distribution of the BMG catalog. Which means Sony controls nearly all of Ellington's output. As far as i know, this is the only CD collection out there of this post-merger thing that CAN condense nearly his whole career into a comprehensive set (without buying one of those dubious sounding bootlegs out there, imported from other countries...RUN from the Proper UK box set).
Ok, now on to the SOUND of the music. When compiling and remastering music from the pre-tape era (everything up until the late '40's), engineers need to combat surface noise (distortion, clicks, pops, hiss). Generally, the older the recording, the more surface noise on the original master. The worse the surface noise, the more distracting it is while listening to the music. However, as you remove surface noise, you also lose a little bit of the clarity and "airiness" to the music. So, engineers have to walk a fine line between making the music sound tolerable by removing noise, but not take off too much, so as to lose the punch & clarity to the music. In the early CD era, they failed miserably. In the last 5 or 6 years, nearly all results have been good, but some better than others.
So, on to this collection. The tracks on this collection certainly have less surface noise than any other Ellington collection i've heard. And although they've done a pretty good job maintaining much of the musical integrity, i believe the sound has been a little over-reduced. A little too much of the clarity is lost. If you weren't comparing it (which i was doing) to other semi-recent collections, you may not notice the difference. So, yes, there is very little noise, but the music sounds a tad too rounded, and not as vibrant. Also, this set has deepened the bass some, but it seems a little unnatural, and takes away from a tad of the clarity of the bottom end of the music.
Maybe some of the difference in sound from different compilations also comes from this: In the liner notes to this collection, it says that songs have been remastered from 78's from private collections. Nowhere does it mention "original masters/parts" or anything like that. However, on a couple box sets that came out around 2000 from BMG & Columbia, it is indicated that THOSE were remastered from orginal metal & glass parts & some early safety tests. Good quality 78's should have less surface noise than the original parts, but slightly less clarity, as they are at least one generation removed from the masters.
My personal alternative is the two collections that RCA & Columbia put out around 2000 (Highlights from the Centennial Edition & The Duke On Columbia, respectively). They were each 3 discs, with no duplicating tracks (although a small handful of the songs are the same, they were recorded at different times, so the arrangements are different). They have a hair more surface noise, but the clarity is a bit higher than with Essential Ellingon. These are the ones that were remastered from the original parts.
NOTE: In one or two song cases, such as Creole Rhapsody, there is SO much noise, that it is unlistenable to me. On the Centennial Edition, there is so much crackling, i can't even listen to it. On the Essential, most of the noise has been removed, but greatly at the expense of the music. It sounds like listening to the song with your fingers in your ears.
So, here's the thing. If you really do want a small collection spanning his entire career, do not hesitate in buying this one. Essential Ellington is definitely the one to get...for that purpose. The sound is very good, and the selections are pretty comprehensive. However, if you want to expand your listening, go with those two 3 disc sets i wrote about above. They have the edge in clarity and punch (and give you more Ellington). Get them on here or Half.com used, and you'll save.
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