Duke Ellington Masterpieces By Ellington - Remastered 180 Gram - Sealed UK Vinyl LP

DUKE ELLINGTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA Masterpieces By Ellington (Pure Pleasure Analogue limited edition mono 4-track LP pressed on 180-gram vinyl, remastered by Ray Staff at AIR Mastering, London. Originally released in 1951, Masterpieces By Ellington shines from an astonishingly brief period of history that gave the recording industry two of its greatest achievements — the introduction of magnetic tape recording and the 33RPM long-playing record. The four selections contained here catapulted the maestro Ellington into the LP era, as the great composer/arranger/pianist and his matchless orchestra took full advantage of the possibilities afforded by magnetic tape recording and the still-new LP to, for the first time, capture uncut concert arrangements of their signature songs. Gatefold picture sleeve with original illustrated cover artwork, hype sticker & factory sealed. Recommended)

TRACKLISTING AND EXTRA INFORMATION
When Ellington went into the studio in 1950 to record the longer tracks on this LP, his orchestra was a bridge between its late-1940's configuration (the 5-man trumpet section) and its mid-1950's personnel. The sax section had settled into the form it would have for most of the ensuing two decades (old-timers Hodges and Carney and newcomers Procope, Hamilton and Gonsalves); the trombone section had long-timer Lawrence Brown as well as Tyree Glenn and newcomer Quentin Jackson; and the drummer was still Sonny Greer, who had anchored the rhythm section since the beginning. Greer would retire at the end of the year, Hodges would defect for two years, Brown and Glenn would leave; Louis Bellson and Cat Anderson would join up and Ellington would begin to re-form. Ellington's orchestra from 1953 on would be a great, swinging and sensitive one, but it would not make the same lush sound that this one did.

The arrangements and orchestrations all bear the hallmarks of Ellington's collaboration with Billy Strayhorn in the late 1940's: they are lush, symphonic, impressionistic, and densely (and adventurously) harmonic. "Mood Indigo", in particular, is a 15-minute tone-poem with shifting colors and key relationships as Ellington and Strayhorn bring the melody through a wide variety of guises, from Glenn's wah-wah trombone solo to Shorty Baker's lyrical waltz to orchestral and piano passages which do homage to the influence which Ravel and Stravinsky had on both of them. Great solos abound here and on the other tracks, most notably from Hodges, Brown, Hamilton, Gonsalves, Carney, trumpeters Baker and Ray Nance, and (most probably) Billy Strayhorn on piano, especially in "Mood Indigo"

"The Tattooed Bride" is the only new piece from the original "Masterpieces by Ellington" LP, and it is a beauty. The others of the original tracks -- "Sophistocated Lady" and "Solitude" -- are not laid out as inventively in their harmonics or structure. Of the group, "Solitude" is perhaps the weakest, but this is a relative term. Ellington would go on to pen many more extended, symphonic works, but none would have quite the multicolored, impressionistic tone-pallate that these do. And Strayhorn's presence would not be as pronounced in those future works as it is here: the orchestration and harmonies in particular bear his mark. These are masterpieces indeed: great works of art by two of our greatest composers/orchestrators, and played by one of the greatest orchestras in Afro-American music. Andrew R. Weiss

Side A
1. Mood Indigo
2. Sophisticated Lady

Side B
1. The Tattooed Bride
2. Solitude

Personnel: Duke Ellington, piano / Billy Strayhorn, piano/ Mercer Ellington, flugelhorn / Cat Anderson, Andrew Ford, Harold Baker, Nelson Williams, Ray Nance, trumpets / Quentin Jackson, Tyree Glenn, Lawrence Brown, trombones / Johnny Hodges, alto saxophone / Paul Gonsalves, tenor saxophone / Jimmy Hamilton, clarinet / Russell Procope, clarinet & alto saxophone /Wendell Marshall, bass /Sonny Greer, drums / Yvonne, vocals

Recorded December 19th 1950

Artist - Duke Ellington (click link for complete listing)
Title - Masterpieces By Ellington (click link for more of the same title)
Year of Release - 2017
Format - vinyl LP album (LP record)
Record Label - Pure Pleasure Records
Catalogue No - PPAN ML4418 (click link for more)
Country of Origin - United Kingdom (UK)
Language - Regardless of country of origin all tracks are sung in English, unless otherwise stated in our description.
Audiophile – This is an Audiophile item. Click link for similar items
Additional info - Sealed, Picture Sleeve
Barcode - 5060149622445
Condition - Factory sealed from new. This item is unplayed. Click here for more info.
RareVinyl.com Ref No - DA3LPMA809012
Related Artists - Al Hibbler, Barney Bigard, Ben Webster, Betty Roché, Billy Strayhorn, Booty Wood, Brooks Kerr, Cat Anderson, Clark Terry, Cootie Williams, Cootie Williams & Rex Stewart, Cozy Cole, Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges, Harold Ashby, Harold Ashby & Paul Gonsalves, Harry Carney, Jimmy Grissom, Jimmy Hamilton, Lawrence Brown, Mercer Ellington, Norris Turney, Paul Gonsalves, Ray Nance, Rex Stewart, Taft Jordan, The Clarinet Summit, The Dave Bailey Sextet, The Duke's Trumpets, The Ellingtonians.

GENRES
Big Band & Swing, Jazz.

REFERENCE
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RareVinyl.com Reference Number - DA3LPMA809012

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