Latest Release
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- 5 JUL 2024
- 49 Songs
- Duke Ellington & John Coltrane · 1963
- Piano In the Foreground · 1960
- Piano In the Foreground · 1960
- Duke Ellington & John Coltrane · 1963
- The Great Summit: The Master Tapes (Remastered) · 1961
- Jazz for Winter: Duke Ellington · 1957
- Cotton Club Stomp 1927-1931 · 2001
- Cotton Club Stomp 1927-1931 · 2001
- Money Jungle · 1962
- Duke Ellington & John Coltrane · 1963
Essential Albums
- Duke Ellington created some of the 20th century's most graceful and winsome music, and to be sure, those more elegant aspects of his personality shine through on many of these cuts. But for the most part, this album is difficult, chaotic, and intense listening. For this 1962 juggernaut, Ellington formed a piano trio with two next-generation stars: Charlie Mingus on bass and Max Roach on drums. Ellington was a hero to Mingus, yet here the thorny bassist seems intent on riling, prodding, and irritating the legendary pianist while Roach tries desperately to keep some sort of order. Ellington certainly doesn't shrink from the fight, offering some of his most challenging, discordant, far-reaching piano work. Listen to the dissonant, rumbling title track or the jolting "Wig Wise" or the sharp-toothed blues "Very Special," and it's hard to believe it's the Duke. Yet most impressively, it sounds like only Duke and nobody else. Enchanting solo readings of older cuts like "Solitude" and "Warm Valley" provide brief respites from the battle, and "Flurette Africaine" is lovely beyond words.
- 2021
Artist Playlists
- The jazz age's most elegant ambassador.
- The jazz giant's oeuvre overflows with fascinating surprises.
- Lean back and relax with some of their mellowest cuts.
Singles & EPs
About Duke Ellington
One of the most influential bandleaders, composers and pianists in jazz history, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born on April 29, 1899, in Washington, D.C. He made his mark as a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance in 1924 with the Washingtonians, launching a multi-year stint at the Cotton Club in 1927 under his own name. His silken arrangements and ambitious writing quickly set him apart from other jazz bandleaders, and over the decades he composed specifically for a committed group of distinctive instrumentalists, including alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges and cornetist Rex Stewart. Ellington was joined by fellow composer and arranger Billy Strayhorn in 1939, and together they produced a string of jazz standards like “Take the ‘A’ Train”, bringing a new rigour and sophistication to big band music. Ellington continued to compose, record and tour until his death in 1974.
- HOMETOWN
- Washington, D.C.
- BORN
- 29 April 1899
- GENRE
- Jazz