Duke Ellington - "Take The A Train" (1964)

Hello Friends,

Keepin' it classy on a Friday! Is it 5 o'clock yet?

Great live version of Ellington's theme tune from 1964.

Featuring a rare on-camera clip of composer Billy Strayhorn! 

That's Ernie Shepard on double-bass & vocals!

Enjoy!

Indigos

Duke Ellington and His Orchestra - "Ellington Indigos" (1958) - Columbia Records

Hello Friends,

Sipping a well-made Old Fashioned with some Duke Ellington on the turntable sounds like a perfect Fall record for a perfect Fall night!

This 1958 recording of ballads and torch songs is nothing short of masterful.  Laid-back, incredibly melodic, warm and familiar, the eight songs here capture the immortal Ellington at his atmospheric finest, setting the perfect mood for an October evening in New England: a full moon rising in the burnt black sky, the stars out in full array, the ubiquitous rustling of leaves, a lone dog howls in the distance. 

The opening track, "Solitude" (an Ellington original from 1934) is worth the price of admission alone.  It begins with Ellington's lone, sad-sounding piano stumbling through the melody for two minutes until the tempo picks up and the full band kicks in! 

Side One is also home to Rodgers & Hart's "Where or When" (featuring some haunting Paul Gonsalves tenor sax), "Mood Indigo" and "Autumn Leaves" (featuring Ozzie Bailey on the album's lone vocal performance!)

Side Two is in very much the tone and mood as Side One.  There's Ellington's own "Prelude to a Kiss" (featuring Johnny Hodges on the alto sax solo), "Willow Weep For Me" (with Shorty Baker on trumpet), "Tenderly" (Jimmy Hamilton on clarinet) and "Dancing in the Dark" (Harry Carney on baritone sax).  

Another terrific set by Duke and the boys!  Time for another Old Fashioned!

RATING: 4.5 I Miss You Most of All My Darling When Autumn Leaves Start to Fall out of 5

Feels like the first time

Duke Ellington & Count Basie - "The Count Meets the Duke: First Time!" (1961) - Columbia Records

Hello Friends,

There's jazz royalty aplenty on this fantastic 1961 LP where the Duke Ellington orchestra and the Count Basie orchestra team up for a big band supergroup.  

The bombastic and uptempo Ellington composition, "Battle Royal" kicks things off.  Right away you can tell there's a lot of talent in the studio but these professionals are not going to let the sound become too overwhelming or overcrowded sounding.  

Thad Jones's subtle and restrained ballad, "To You" is up next and it quiets everything down a bit with its melancholy mood.   Billy Strayhorn's "Take the 'A' Train" and Freddie Greene's "Until I Met You" (formerly known as "Corner Pocket") round out the first side of the LP.  The latter features some great, understated dueling pianos courtesy of Count & Duke.

Side Two begins with another Ellington tune, the exotic-sounding "Wild Man".  The musicians featured here play like a who's who jazz greats including Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown, Johnny Hodges, Thad Jones, Cat Anderson, Frank Foster & Paul Gonsalves.

"Segue in C" is from the Basie songbook and "BDB" (for Basie, Duke & Billy) is an original composition from Ellington & Strayhorn written for these sessions.

The closing number, "Jumpin' at the Woodside" is the old Basie standard on steroids.      

A highly enjoyable record, the first and (unfortunately) last of its kind!  By 1961, the era of the Big Band was long past its prime.  The hipsters had all moved onto bebop and the youngsters were embracing Rock & Roll.  Basie and Ellington, both pillars of the art form they helped create, would hang around for a few more years and continue to produce some pretty great music.  Ellington would pass away in 1974 and Basie, ten years later, in 1984.  Giants among giants, they don't make 'em like this anymore!  (I'm looking at you Skrillex!)   

RATING: 4.5 Quickest Ways to Harlem out of 5

11 Days of Xmas: Duke Ellington - "The Nutcracker Suite" (1960)

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - "The Nutcracker Suite" (1960) - Columbia Records

Hello Friends,

We're having a swinging, hipster Xmas party on Vinyl in the Valley tonight featuring Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's arrangement of Tchaikovsy's famous "Nutcracker Suite".


Things are jumping on this 1960 release featuring expertly arranged jazz renditions of the Russian composer's most famous work.  And this is some first rate shit!  Ellington & co. at their best.  Mitchell "Booty" Wood's muted trombone on the opening number, "Overture" is worth the price of admission alone.



In additional to Booty Wood and the Duke himself on piano, other players sound like a who's who roster: Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Paul Gonzalves, Russell Procope (Saxes), Ray Nance (Trumpet), Juan Tizol (Trombone) and Sam Woodyard on drums.

Tiki T. says listening to album is like sitting at a bar at Grand Central Station waiting for train during holidays!  If she keeps downing these Old Fashioned's, I think she's going to miss her train altogether!

RATING: 5 Sugar Rum Cherries out of 5

Welcome to the "In" Crowd

The Ramsey Lewis Trio - "The In Crowd" (1965) - Cadet

Hello friends,

Imagine for a second that its May 1965 and you're out carousing in our Nation's capital.  You and your girl are few drinks in when you stumble upon the Bohemian Caverns, a dark, basement nightclub on 11th Street.  You hear the strains of live jazz music seeping into street and you decide to pop in for a nightcap (or two.)

Inside is a crowd of mostly young people engulfed a low cloud of thick smoke.  On stage are three black guys: Eldee Young on upright bass, Red Holt on drum kit and Mr. Ramsey Lewis on the black & whites.  Alright, you think to yourself, this is The Ramsey Lewis trio that's been all the talk around these parts.  

What you didn't realize is tonight's concert would turn out to be an historical one as their performance was being committed to tape and would soon be released as an LP entitled, "The In Crowd".  This album would become a jazz classic, popularizing the rhythm & bluesy title track into a chart-topping standard.  Other cuts like "Since I Fell For You", "You've Been Talkin' 'Bout Me Baby" and Duke Ellington's "Come Sunday" capture Ramsey Lewis and his virtuoso rhythm section their absolute live best.      

You take your seats, order some drinks and your date smiles and looks at you approvingly.  You're in the "In Crowd" tonight for sure! (wink, wink)

RATING: 4.5 dark, smoke-filled nightclubs out of 5