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Tracklist (CD)
1-1 | | You, You Darlin' | | 3:24 | 1-2 | | Jack The Bear | | 3:18 | 1-3 | | Ko-Ko | | 2:44 | 1-4 | | Morning Glory | | 3:18 | 1-5 | | So Far, So Good | | 2:57 | 1-6 | | Conga Brava | | 3:00 | 1-7 | | Concerto For Cootie | | 3:24 | See more tracks1-8 | | Me And You | | 2:59 | 1-9 | | Cotton Tail | | 3:15 | 1-10 | | Never No Lament | | 3:20 | 1-11 | | Dusk | | 3:25 | 1-12 | | Bojangles (A Portrait Of Bill Robinson) | | 2:56 | 1-13 | | A Portrait Of Bert Williams | | 3:14 | 1-14 | | Blue Goose | | 3:25 | 1-15 | | Harlem Air Shaft | | 2:58 | 1-16 | | At A Dixie Roadside Diner | | 2:51 | 1-17 | | All Too Soon | | 3:32 | 1-18 | | Rumpus In Richmond | | 2:50 | 1-19 | | My Greatest Mistake | | 3:27 | 1-20 | | Sepia Panorama | | 3:26 | 1-21 | | There Shall Be No Night | | 3:15 | 1-22 | | In A Mellotone | | 3:18 | 2-1 | | Five O'Clock Whistle | | 3:17 | 2-2 | | Warm Valley | | 3:20 | 2-3 | | The Flaming Sword | | 3:06 | 2-4 | | Across The Track Blues | | 2:59 | 2-5 | | Chloe (Song Of The Swamp) | | 3:24 | 2-6 | | I Never Felt This Way Before | | 3:29 | 2-7 | | The Sidewalks Of New York | | 3:14 | 2-8 | | Flamingo | | 3:22 | 2-9 | | The Girl In My Dreams Tries To Look Like You | | 3:17 | 2-10 | | Take The "A" Train | | 2:51 | 2-11 | | Jumpin' Punkins | | 3:40 | 2-12 | | John Hardy's Wife | | 3:30 | 2-13 | | Blue Serge | | 3:21 | 2-14 | | After All | | 3:20 | 2-15 | | Bakiff | | 3:22 | 2-16 | | Are You Sticking? | | 3:02 | 2-17 | | Just A-Settin' And A-Rockin' | | 3:34 | 2-18 | | The Giddybug Gallop | | 3:29 | 2-19 | | Chocolate Shake | | 2:55 | 2-20 | | I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) | | 3:17 | 2-21 | | Clementine | | 2:57 | 2-22 | | Brown-Skin Gal (In The Calico Gown) | | 3:07 | 3-1 | | Jump For Joy | | 2:55 | 3-2 | | Moon Over Cuba | | 3:14 | 3-3 | | Five O'Clock Drag | | 3:19 | 3-4 | | Rocks In My Bed | | 3:10 | 3-5 | | Bli-Blip | | 3:09 | 3-6 | | Chelsea Bridge | | 2:56 | 3-7 | | Raincheck | | 2:29 | 3-8 | | What Good Would It Do? | | 2:49 | 3-9 | | I Don't Know What Kind Of Blues I Got | | 3:18 | 3-10 | | Perdido | | 3:13 | 3-11 | | The "C" Jam Blues | | 2:41 | 3-12 | | Moon Mist | | 3:05 | 3-13 | | What Am I Here For? | | 3:30 | 3-14 | | I Don't Mind | | 2:54 | 3-15 | | Someone | | 3:16 | 3-16 | | My Little Brown Book | | 3:18 | 3-17 | | Main Stem | | 2:52 | 3-18 | | Johnny Come Lately | | 2:42 | 3-19 | | Hayfoot Strawfoot | | 2:36 | 3-20 | | Sentimental Lady | | 3:04 | 3-21 | | A Slip Of The Lip (Can Sink A Ship) | | 2:59 | 3-22 | | Sherman Shuffle | | 2:39 |
* Items below may differ depending on the release.
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Review Duke Ellington made sublime music before 1940 and after 1942, but somehow it always comes down to those three crucial years in between when you want to talk magic. During that time, all the pieces came together. By 1940, the already crack band had been joined by three (not two, as the title would have you believe) remarkable musicians, who prodded Ellington's own creative imagination to new peaks: tenor saxophonist Ben Webster, pioneering bassist Jimmy Blanton and arranger-composer Billy Strayhorn.Suddenly it was like production-line… Read More genius: the band began turning out more masterpieces per month than other bands produced in whole careers. Skimming the surface alone is frightening: "Take the 'A' Train," "Cotton Tail," "Harlem Air Shaft," "In a Mellotone," "Ko-Ko," "Chelsea Bridge," "All Too Soon." There's much more, and all of it crackles with originality and contemporary vitality. What's most exhilarating is to hear Ellington molding indigenous sounds jazz, blues, pop with whatever outside influences he needed (European impressionism, Afro-Latin rhythms) to extend and reshape them into his own distinct language. There's a thrilling sense of unlimited boundaries with this band. Ellington may be the acknowledged auteur, but one of the pleasures of his work has always been in separating the parts from the whole. This collection can be enjoyed as a masterwork of composition and leadership or as a series of individual triumphs from the greatest team of jazz players (Johnny Hodges and Cootie Williams, et al.) ever assembled. In drawing together all that preceded him, Ellington pointed the way to all that followed. If you care about American music in any form, this is an essential record. (RS 495) STEVE FUTTERMAN |