The Blanton-Webster Band

I've just come away from the French Classic "Duke Ellington: 1942-44." The music and recording quality are more than I could have expected, simply sublime. Yet it's not the Blanton-Webster band, which was the preceding two years--tracks including unequaled classics like "Harlem Airshaft" and "Ko Ko." Since I already have the celebrated "Fargo Concert" as well as the LP's of the Blanton-Webster edition of the band, I was tempted to wait for a CD reissue that's at least as well mastered as the French edition of the band, 1942-1944.The great misfortune to us all--if not scandal--is that ever since Ken Burns' wonderful series for PBS, jazz has again gone on the skids (notwithstanding a few isolated summer festivals and some of the Lincoln Center events). The American public doesn't even have ears for instrumental music let alone Ellington. If it's not vocals, guitars, and reductive sounds (or reductively loud), the music scarcely has a chance in the American marketplace. The last great tribute to Ellington was the Columbia/Sony remastering of the "Ellington at Newport '56" album, which by itself made the case for the value and potential of digital technology. Sony invested tens if not hundreds of thousands in the project, and some listeners have yet to grasp that such an event is not about to be repeated--at least not during any of our lifetimes. Your best bet for a lovingly remastered edition of these precious tracks--recordings representative of an African-American art form at its very best (compare these complex miniatures to Shakespeare's sonnets)--is a Spanish or French reissue.Nevertheless, this RCA package is the equal of my two RCA LPs representing the band, it has additional tracks for which there was not room on the LPs, and the booklet is more informative and completely documented. It definitely belongs in the selective list of the top ten--if not top five--Ellington essential recordings. (The others would have to be "Ellington Uptown," "Such Suite Thunder," "The Nutcracker Suite," "Blue Rose." But that's not enough: you must have "Ellington at 'Newport '56," which was his best-selling LP recording, as well as "A Drum Is a Woman," "Black Brown and Beige," and a number of personal favorites that I won't list lest they discourage listeners from making their own discoveries in the universe of Ellington. I wouldn't list the Ellington-Coltrane album (in fact, the Ellington-Hawkins, Ellington-Fitzgerald, Ellington-Armstrong albums are more essential than the one with Coltrane, which, though often listed as the best-seller among Ellington albums, is largely an iconic meeting, with minimal Ellington. The meeting between the Ellington and Basie bands has more solid music from both legends. And for Ellington playing piano with modernists, "Money Jungle" with Mingus and Roach is better than the date with Coltrane. And despite what you may have heard, there's much of great appeal and quality on the three Sacred Music Concerts.Finally, for an album that's practically miraculous, since long-playing tracks would not be in release for another ten years, the "Fargo Concert" reproduces a lot of the material on this collection but from a live, back-stage perspective in which the listener is plopped down in the midst of the band in 1940.Coda: After listening again to Herb Jeffries' flawless, masterful singing on Strayhorn's nnovative arrangement of "Flamingo," I must issue a cautionary. Thinking I would save the time of going to the box set, I entered the words "Jeffries" and "Flamingo" in Amazon's search box and was greeted by no fewer than six non-Ellington, non-Strayhorn versions of the tune (the original interweaves Jeffries vocal instrument with the equally distinctive instrumental voices of Lawrence Brown and Johnny Hodges). The six tunes ranged from the ordinary to the atrocious (4 were disco mixes!). If you go this route, enter the tune under Ellington's name, not Jeffries'. As for audio quality, the later edition ("No Lament") has more bass frequencies and less evidence of surface noise or distortion. At the same time, I find that Jeffries' voice has slightly more presence, naturalness, authenticity on this version than on the more recent one. (There are usually trade-offs when remastering a previous edition--with the exception of the inarguably superior 1999 remastering of "Ellington at Newport '56.")

I have to disagree with the review of "Music Fan from Seattle WA" dated May 11, 1998, who claims the "little 'faux pas' (of the previous edition) have been ironed out." "Music Fan from Westchester" dated April 17, 1999 is correct. They persist. I now have a 12-13 year old set and one sent last week by Amazon. The problems referred to -- which did not exist on earlier earlier LPs, nor on some foreign CDs -- are still there in all their gory. Unless Amazon sent me old stock, RCA (that is, General Electric) has had the slovenliness not to redigitize these recordings for the Duke Ellington Centennial (April 29) over a period of 13 years. The good news is that those who are not familiar with this music may notice little wrong. Those who are may find it akin to publishing the American Constitution with several ugly typos! I suggest that the best approach to acquiring this music is to buy one of the foreign CDs (e.g. RCA/GE France: Indispensable Ellington vols 5/6 and 7/8 on the Black and White label). It would be interesting to see if the Complete RCA recordings are similarly marred. I certainly won't buy them until I know for sure. Five stars for the music, but minus at least one for the slick accountants at GE/RCA.

The greatest jazz orchestra ever at their absolute peak, it doesn't get any better than this. I can listen to Duke in any era right up until the end in 1974, but this group of standout performances is the holy grail of Ellington masterpieces. The arrangements are so tight and flawless and to enjoy the great Ben Webster for this short period is not to be missed. The sound quality throughout is excellent, though sometimes a bit muffled but not unexpected considering the age of the recordings. The booklet's liner notes are printed awfully small, so be prepared to put the bifocals to use. But don't miss this musical trip with the great maestro at his swinging best.

The Duke, Blanton and everyone else at the top of their game. This is an extraordinary collaboration of great musicians. A genuine delight. Sound quality is fine. Go for it -- you can't go wrong. Liner notes are helpful too.

excellent music--CD in good condition.

The best of the best of the best of the best. Period.

delivered as stated

Excellent

one of the highest points in Duke's career