A Portrait of Duke Ellington

Straightahead / Mainstream Jazz
premiera polska: 2011-06-01
kontynent: Ameryka Północna
kraj: USA
opakowanie: plastikowe etui
opis:
Edityor's info:
When the young Dizzy Gillespie was starting his career in the late 1930s, Duke
Ellington was already a big star who had recorded dozens of sides and appeared in
motion pictures. Duke had achieved celebrity as a bandleader, and he was slowly
gaining due respect as a composer. Along with Charlie Parker, Diz was on his way
to revolutionizing the jazz world in the mid 1940s with the arrival of bebop. Ellington
was one of those creative geniuses who never became dated, and was always ready
to listen to new musicians and emerging sounds. Gillespie became a member of
Duke's band in 1943. Ellington and Gillespie made their first serious collaboration
on February 19, 1959, when Diz participated on Duke's Columbia album Jazz Party.
Although Ellington doesn't play piano on the current LP, he is ever-present both
through his compositions and those of his songbook. Considering Diz's long-standing
relationship with Duke, this album seemed like a foregone conclusion. However,
this was obviously not the only non-Ellingtonian tribute to the Duke, for many other
musicians recorded (and continue to record) his works worldwide, from the aforementioned Ella Fitzgerald albums (featuring Duke on piano) to LPs by Dave Brubeck, Mc- Coy Tyner, Thelonious Monk, Martial Solal, and numerous others. For his own tribute, Dizzy chose to employ a very different instrumentation to that of his usual quintet of that period. This created a new sound that fit Ellington's compositions perfectly without falling into the more familiar sounds of Diz's quintet or Duke's band.

Dizzy Gillespie's complete 1960 album A Portrait of Duke Ellington (Verve MG-VS-68386), the trumpeter's heartfelt homage to the Duke. Consisting entirely of compositions by Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, it features Dizzy fronting an orchestra heavy with wind instruments including trombone, woodwinds, flute, tuba and French horns, plus a rhythm section featuring Hank Jones on piano, George Duvivier on bass, and Charlie Persip on drums. As a bonus, the subsequent entry in Gillespie's discography following the album, consisting of three rarely heard numbers by Diz at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival .
Includes 12-page booklet

****1/2 DOWN BEAT original review
"This album, the first example of Fischer's
orchestral jazz writing ever released on record,
makes clear that he is one of the most gifted
arrangers available to jazz today.
Dizzy plays brilliantly through much of the LP.
This is a fine album -one of those sets that I, for
one, will be listening to for a long time, for pure,
unrationalized enjoyment."
(Gene Lees)

muzycy:
DIZZY GILLESPIE, trumpet on all tracks, with:
Bennie Green (trombone)
Robert de Dominica (flute)
Stan Webb, Paul Richie, John Murtaugh, Ernest Bright (woodwinds)
Richard Berg, Ray Alonge, Joe Singer (French horns)
John McAllister (tuba)
George Devens (vibes)
Hank Jones (piano)
George Duvivier (bass)
Charlie Persip (drums)
New York, April 27-28, 1960.
Arrangements by CLARE FISCHER

*BONUS TRACKS (12-14):
Dizzy Gillespie (tp), Leo Wright (as, fl), Junior Mance (p),
Art Davis (b), Al Dreares (d).
Newport Jazz Festival, Newport, Rhode Island, July 1, 1960.

utwory:
1. In A Mellow Tone 3:46
2. Things Ain't What They Used To Be 4:55
3. Serenade To Sweden 4:24
4. Chelsea Bridge 2:37
5. Upper Manhattan Medical Group 3:07
6. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me 2:40
7. Caravan 5:22
8. Sophisticated Lady 3:21
9. Johnny Come Lately 3:39
10. Perdido 4:52
11. Come Sunday 3:01
12. Lorraine 4:24*
13. Norm's Norm 5:14*
14. A Night In Tunisia 9:58*

total time - 61:24
wydano: 2010
nagrano: New York, April 27-28, 1960.
more info: www.disconforme.com