Apologies for the lack of paragraphs. I am not sure how to separate them properly on my phone.

 

I never paid much attention to Ellington in my youth: he was too regimented to be jazz, he was too formal to be big band, he was too much "folk art" to be classical.

In the past couple of years I have 'discovered' Duke all over again. He truly was his own universe: as elaborate and written-out as any wind quintets by Mozart or Reicha, but using the instrumentation and language of jazz. His players did not improvise (much) but had broad leeway in how they played their parts. His entire front line did extravagant pitch sliding portamentos, which I understand are devilishly difficult on anything but a trombone. His compositions were long, elaborate, and didn't follow any sort of rote A - B - A - B - C - A structure, but evolved naturally and unpredictably. His language was pretty much uniquely his own.

I can't claim to be any kind of expert on him, but I'm definitely a fan now.

 

Ellington was a major American composer, bandleader and pianist. I don't think his work can be over-rated. But it doesn't translate well outside of his own band, or one made up of jazz musicians. The straight symphonic orchestra recordings I've heard of his work pale in comparison. I am not criticizing his work only saying that he wrote it according to certain assumptions about interpretation, which only seasoned jazz musicians can provide.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra resurrected and recorded his long form work Black, Brown and Beige - and it is a valuable recording that fills the vacuum that had persisted since Ellington performed the work in January of 1943 at Carnegie Hall.

I would agree that his music is best performed by his own band, especially considering that he composed and arranged with specific musicians in mind.

 

Ellington was a major American composer, bandleader and pianist. I don't think his work can be over-rated. But it doesn't translate well outside of his own band, or one made up of jazz musicians. The straight symphonic orchestra recordings I've heard of his work pale in comparison. I am not criticizing his work only saying that he wrote it according to certain assumptions about interpretation, which only seasoned jazz musicians can provide.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra resurrected and recorded his long form work Black, Brown and Beige - and it is a valuable recording that fills the vacuum that had persisted since Ellington performed the work in January of 1943 at Carnegie Hall.

 

When you say his work doesn't translate outside his own band are you referring mainly to his formal instrumental compositions or all of his work? He obviously wrote dozens of great songs that have been covered by numerous artists. As well as shorter instrumental tunes played by hundreds of bands and jazz combos.

 

I was really speaking of his larger form works, the suites and something like Black, Brown and Beige - which has been done by a symphonic orchestra on Naxos, and I did not think they played the music well. Yes, of course the songs have been done, even some opera singers have recorded them, I think. But I still maintain that even for them they are best handled by musicians with a jazz background.

 

I saw him live twice in the 70s, great as always.

 

I saw him in the early '70s at the Disneyland Carnation Plaza. I was sitting on the floor about three feet from the band. That was great. He had a french horn in the band, and he had a young lady playing solo tenor sax. He was always looking ahead.

 

In the early '70s I purchased on a whim the Duke Ellington album New Orleans Suite, simply because the title sounded intriguing. The late '60s/early '70s were extremely transformational, musically, for me. I was writing songs and playing lead guitar in a rock band, singing/cantoring in Old Slovanic/Russian/Polish church choirs, attempting to write for orchestra both a large Romantic-style symphony and a smaller, Haydn-sized "Classical" symphony, beginning my hoarding of recorded music, especially modern and contemporary serious music including that released in the First Edition subscription program of the Louisville Orchestra, and discovering jazz, a hitherto relatively unknown sound world to me.

One thing that remains of that era of my life is the Ellington recording, still a prize in my vinyl collection, and a disc that has taken a spin on my turntable at least once a year for the past ... how many since 1971? (I really don't want to think about it.)

I have since added more Duke to my collection, and when I last checked my database on Discogs (a few moments ago), I see dozens of works featuring the great Duke in one or another aspect of his multi-phased genius.

To this day, I still value purchasing whims and intriguing album titles.

I especially still value the music of Edward Kennedy Ellington!