Duke Ellington scholars, listen up.

By the way, I managed to answer my own question with the help of the folks on a Duke Yahoo group. Here's what you need to take from Centennial Edition to make a Flaming Youth (if I fucked up anything, please let me know):

Black And Tan Fantasy-3min 3:10
Bandanna Babies 3:18
Harlem River Quiver - Take 1 2:45
Diga Diga Do 2:58
Blues I Love To Sing - Take 2 3:11
Jubilee Stomp 2:35
Flaming Youth - Take 2 3:15
The Mooche 3:31
Creole Love Call 3:14
Washington Wabble - Take 2 2:50
East St. Louis Toodle-o 3:39
I Must Have That Man 3:22
Blue Bubbles - Take 1 3:11
No Papa No - Take 2 3:20
Got Everything But You 2:59
Black Beauty ('28) 2:52

Brad, you should also check out the film Rock 'n' Roll Revue from 1955. Along with Nat "King" Cole, Larry Darnell, Dinah Washington, The Clovers, Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, etc., you get a Duke performance featuring a fucking EVIL drum solo by Louie Bellson. And I'm no lover of drum solos so that's high praise.

Thing is, this song (don't know the title; the MC calls it "musical rhythm" but that may just be a descriptor) rocks harder than not only the R&B acts in the film but most rock 'n' roll of the time. It's loud, fast, obnoxious, noisy, irritating - in short, more rock 'n' roll than rock 'n' roll itself. So unless I'm mishearing it, I want to know if nominally jazz tracks this rocking compromise the Great Schism that was rock 'n' roll. Do they underline rock 'n' roll as a demographic revolution rather than a musical one? Were parents at the tie just as up in arms about this music as they were about Little Richard? Is this for another thread?

I doubt parents were as pissed off at this kind of stuff as they were about Little Richard. Also worth remembering that rock and roll grew out of music aimed at adults -- Louis Jordan, Wynonie Harris, etc.

This must be the clip Kevin is talking about

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q4My8VzkZLI

Talking to various members of the greatest generation, I've heard that Ellington was alright, but no Glenn Miller. A good, but not top tier pop artist. Anyways, this clip fantastic, shows how well the Ellington unit could rise to any task put before it. Unfortunately, I'm not finding any Jimmie Lunceford clips on Youtube- the bits I've seen show a swing band that was always working on this sort of crazy level.

"Talking to various members of the greatest generation, I've heard that Ellington was alright, but no Glenn Miller. A good, but not top tier pop artist. "

Um, no, may have seemed like that to some at the time, but that's just wrong, wrong, wrong.

I'm not saying it's right at all. I'm just curious how a pop fan with tastes formed sixty years ago view him in relation to what else was out there.

Fuck pop fans. And, obviously, I'm not saying that's right at all, either.

This must be the clip Kevin is talking about

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q4My8VzkZLI

Yes, that's the clip, Bendy.

Were these "greatest generation" members that you spoke to white?

And where have you seen these crazy Jimmie Lunceford clips? Surprised to hear that because I've always found him very, well, pop (streamlined, middle of the road, mildly camp, etc.).

Apologies for being snippy, I think the third bottle of wine had been opened by that point in the evening. (And believe me, I'm sorry now!) I think Ellington was only incidentally a pop artiste, so it's not too surprising to hear him dismissed as such.

Old white people, that's who I talked to. Sure. I think it's amazing enough that such an immense artist could maintain any kind of pop following, so I'm not griping. It's always interesting to read a book about music history, then compare it to what coworkers or relatives remember.

the Lunceford clips, coulda sworn I sow some on youtube once. The Ken Burns Jazz thing has like a 20 second excerpt. I've got a weird no-name label Lunceford LP that really is dense and frantic, not like Ellington, more like Hampton. Though I like Lunceford's pop stuff too. He did the best "Blues in the Night," I've heard.

Another question re: the Centennial Edition 24 CD box. This has come into my possession in MP3 form without the booklet (nothing to do with downloading, no sirree nope.) Can anyone point me to any online discography that would tell me, for the tracks with multiple takes, which take was one commercially issued at the time? 'Cause I wanna be able to traverse just those at first, then hear the other takes later.

Also, I finally bought Ellington Uptown last week. Really found the remastering a disappointment. Kind of dull sounding, not enough high end, sounds like they went just a little but to far removing hiss or something. There's no reason a 1950's recording should sound like this. I'd rather hear a rip from a well-preserved copy of the LP, I think. Which leads me to another question: I see Elllington Uptown is also available on a Collector's Choice 2fer. Does anyone know if the transfer on that resembles the above comments?

I should have spent my lunch break trying to answer the discography question myself on the web.

Instead, all I have to say is that "Bakiff" is my favorite thing in the history of ever.

can't help you out with your question, sorry, but let's talk about Duke some more! Like: what are the best Ellington books out there? I'm reading "Beyond Category" right now, which seems to be doing a good job of mixing historical context and analysis of the music. Not really interested in standard bios -- more criticism kinds of things. I've got the Duke Ellington Reader as well, and that has some cool pieces in it (esp. a New Yorker profile from the 40s.)

Also, what are the best "(Blank) Plays Ellington" albums out there? I love Thelonius Monk's early 50s record, there's an early 90s Sir Roland Hanna disc which is pretty good (solo piano) and I've got Kenny Burrell's "Ellington Is Forever Vol.1" which is a tad bit dated (and has a horrible cover), but has some great playing on it nonetheless. Any others? Is McCoy Tyner's Ellington album good? Earl Hines'?

Newsflash: "Transblucency" is now best thing in history of ever.

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra: The Conny Plank Session is released tomorrow. I know I am going to love this because late period Duke is one of my favourite things right now, it has arrived at a perfect time for me.

AN
TIC
I
PAT
ING
!!!

hell yes

this is definitely too short, but very nice indeed. probably more likely to listen to 60s-70s ellington than anything else these days.

i have been bang into his New Orleans Suite lately, it is a wonderful record and probably underrated.

LOVE New Orleans Suite. One of my faves, maybe even up there with The Far East Suite.