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CD: DUKE ELLINGTON 1936-1940 Small Group Sessions Okeh MOSAIC Johnny Hodges
125.00 USD
125.00 USD
06 May 2021
23 Apr 2021
Buy It Now
2740
2264
United States
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Mosaic MD7-235, booklet hand #1114, a peak of American culture, period. Discs 1-6 ARE SEALED NEW. Disc 7 is in excellent condition, as are the booklet and box.
I'll carefully pack and promptly ship. Please write if you have detailed questions.
Restoration and mastering by the great Steven Lasker.
**
Yes, this Mosaic box is long out-of-print - and if you are lucky enough to find a copy, it won't be cheap. Save up your ducats and track one down anyway.
Duke's small group sides, circa 1935 to 1941, were mostly aimed at the jukebox trade, but collectively they are surprisingly substantive. That is, even with a certain ratio of vocal "novelties," there are very few "lapses" into commercial hokum (perhaps the two takes of AIN'T THE GRAVY GOOD and the three takes of PECKIN'). The remastered sound, for the most part based on first-generation master pressings, is clear and - to borrow the title of a later Billy Strayhorn piece - "sweet and pungent." (The earlier CD issues of these sides never sounded like THIS !) Just listen to what Ellington himself called the "woody" quality of Barney Bigard's clarinet, in the intro to BLUE LIGHT and IF I THOUGHT YOU CARED; the ripe, sensual harmonics of FINESSE; the tart potency of THE RABBIT JUMPS, SKUNK HOLLOW BLUES and TOASTED PICKLE; the smoky textures OF INDIGO ECHOES, LAMENT FOR A LOST LOVE, BLUE REVERIE, the aforementioned BLUE LIGHT, DREAM BLUES and WATCH THE BIRDIE. One can almost smell the dinners waiting for the musicians - perhaps at some all-night diner "next door to the studio" - which they no doubt wolfed down after finishing each of these often wee-hours sessions. In fact, the sheer nocturnal intimacy of this music brings to mind Ken Burns' comment that Madonna and Britney Spears may get you to the bedroom door, but for intimacy, you need Duke Ellington and Miles Davis.
Steven Lasker's notes delve more into issues of authorship of the tunes than into the music itself (i.e., comparing solos from take to take of the same piece). On the face of it, this might be a disappointment, but coming from such a masterful Ellingtonian, this is hardly an omission. It's more a tacit acknowledgement that the glories of this music hardly need proselytizing for anyone purchasing this set; it's also respectful of the reality that different periods and aspects of Duke's huge output mean quite powerful, personal, and DIFFERENT things to even the greatest admirers of Ellington (when dyed-in-the-wool Ellingtonians clash among themselves, it's fun to watch). This is borne out by countless commentators, over the decades, amateur AND expert, to whom the ducal period which got THEM into Ellington represents the "true" peak of Duke's art - inevitably followed by a falling off or even "betrayal" of what to them is Duke's REAL art...Or - and this is NOT so “fun” to watch - even a betrayal of "his people," as if what is or is not "representative" of a whole PEOPLE could be neatly categorized...This kind of broad-brushing is characteristic of the very racism which some of those commentators were so sincerely and passionately against ! John Hammond's scathing review of the 1935 REMINISCING IN TEMPO, and Collier’s and Teachout's disdain for most of the later extended works come to mind...Now, it's true that :
1) Overall, some ducal "periods" were more creative than others; the 1939-1943 band was head-and-shoulders above, say, the 1937-39 or the 1943-45 bands. But the almost exclusive veneration of '39-43 ("Blanton-Webster") has blinded some to the creativity, finesse and sheer tonal beauty of the 1946-47 band (see my review of the COMPLETE CAITPOL TRANSCRIPTIONS).
2) Some of the extended works are more successful and internally integrated than others (THE TATTOOED BRIDE, THE QUEEN’S SUITE, the SUITE THURSDAY, and the FAR EAST SUITE come to mind). Never mind that, right up to his final live performance on March 22, 1974, two months prior to his death, Duke in fact NEVER abandoned the shorter-piece format at which he excelled, and which made him famous.
It should go without saying that anyone desiring to pick up where this Mosaic set leaves off, should also acquire the French RCA compilation "THE INDISPENSABLE DUKE ELLINGTON AND THE SMALL GROUPS Vol. 9/10," which features sides from November 1940 through September 1941 (plus some 1946 piano duets with Billy Strayhorn). Among these additional treasures, you'll find the chamber-jazz originals of DAY DREAM, JUST SQUEEZE ME (originally titled SUBTLE SLOUGH), PASSION FLOWER, THINGS AIN'T WHAT THEY USED TO BE, and C [JAM] BLUES....Not to mention the utterly "sweet and pungent" SOME SATURDAY, POOR BUBBER, BROWN SUEDE, and a piquant solo piano version of SOLITUDE - which can sit as honorably at the banquet table as the 1934 original and the extended 1950 version on MASTERPIECES BY ELLINGTON.
Duke's small group sides, circa 1935 to 1941, were mostly aimed at the jukebox trade, but collectively they are surprisingly substantive. That is, even with a certain ratio of vocal "novelties," there are very few "lapses" into commercial hokum (perhaps the two takes of AIN'T THE GRAVY GOOD and the three takes of PECKIN'). The remastered sound, for the most part based on first-generation master pressings, is clear and - to borrow the title of a later Billy Strayhorn piece - "sweet and pungent." (The earlier CD issues of these sides never sounded like THIS !) Just listen to what Ellington himself called the "woody" quality of Barney Bigard's clarinet, in the intro to BLUE LIGHT and IF I THOUGHT YOU CARED; the ripe, sensual harmonics of FINESSE; the tart potency of THE RABBIT JUMPS, SKUNK HOLLOW BLUES and TOASTED PICKLE; the smoky textures OF INDIGO ECHOES, LAMENT FOR A LOST LOVE, BLUE REVERIE, the aforementioned BLUE LIGHT, DREAM BLUES and WATCH THE BIRDIE. One can almost smell the dinners waiting for the musicians - perhaps at some all-night diner "next door to the studio" - which they no doubt wolfed down after finishing each of these often wee-hours sessions. In fact, the sheer nocturnal intimacy of this music brings to mind Ken Burns' comment that Madonna and Britney Spears may get you to the bedroom door, but for intimacy, you need Duke Ellington and Miles Davis.
Steven Lasker's notes delve more into issues of authorship of the tunes than into the music itself (i.e., comparing solos from take to take of the same piece). On the face of it, this might be a disappointment, but coming from such a masterful Ellingtonian, this is hardly an omission. It's more a tacit acknowledgement that the glories of this music hardly need proselytizing for anyone purchasing this set; it's also respectful of the reality that different periods and aspects of Duke's huge output mean quite powerful, personal, and DIFFERENT things to even the greatest admirers of Ellington (when dyed-in-the-wool Ellingtonians clash among themselves, it's fun to watch). This is borne out by countless commentators, over the decades, amateur AND expert, to whom the ducal period which got THEM into Ellington represents the "true" peak of Duke's art - inevitably followed by a falling off or even "betrayal" of what to them is Duke's REAL art...Or - and this is NOT so “fun” to watch - even a betrayal of "his people," as if what is or is not "representative" of a whole PEOPLE could be neatly categorized...This kind of broad-brushing is characteristic of the very racism which some of those commentators were so sincerely and passionately against ! John Hammond's scathing review of the 1935 REMINISCING IN TEMPO, and Collier’s and Teachout's disdain for most of the later extended works come to mind...Now, it's true that :
1) Overall, some ducal "periods" were more creative than others; the 1939-1943 band was head-and-shoulders above, say, the 1937-39 or the 1943-45 bands. But the almost exclusive veneration of '39-43 ("Blanton-Webster") has blinded some to the creativity, finesse and sheer tonal beauty of the 1946-47 band (see my review of the COMPLETE CAITPOL TRANSCRIPTIONS).
2) Some of the extended works are more successful and internally integrated than others (THE TATTOOED BRIDE, THE QUEEN’S SUITE, the SUITE THURSDAY, and the FAR EAST SUITE come to mind). Never mind that, right up to his final live performance on March 22, 1974, two months prior to his death, Duke in fact NEVER abandoned the shorter-piece format at which he excelled, and which made him famous.
It should go without saying that anyone desiring to pick up where this Mosaic set leaves off, should also acquire the French RCA compilation "THE INDISPENSABLE DUKE ELLINGTON AND THE SMALL GROUPS Vol. 9/10," which features sides from November 1940 through September 1941 (plus some 1946 piano duets with Billy Strayhorn). Among these additional treasures, you'll find the chamber-jazz originals of DAY DREAM, JUST SQUEEZE ME (originally titled SUBTLE SLOUGH), PASSION FLOWER, THINGS AIN'T WHAT THEY USED TO BE, and C [JAM] BLUES....Not to mention the utterly "sweet and pungent" SOME SATURDAY, POOR BUBBER, BROWN SUEDE, and a piquant solo piano version of SOLITUDE - which can sit as honorably at the banquet table as the 1934 original and the extended 1950 version on MASTERPIECES BY ELLINGTON.