×
Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date.
For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now.
0717101860029

64.99
In Stock
Overview
During the 1940s, the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras were the medulla oblongata in the central nervous system of jazz throughout the United States of America. The evolution of Duke's unparalleled orchestra during that very transitional decade is etched in commercially issued phonograph records; when the listener is able to follow this progress using lesser-known air check acetates and hand-made field recordings, the plot thickens as tempos relax and soloists are allowed more space for improvisation. It's a lot like hearing the music live through a large antique radio full of bulbous vacuum tubes with orange filaments aglow. Storyville's eight-CD Duke Box is a treasure chest of live location and broadcast studio performances originally preserved for posterity on privately produced platters and radio transcription discs. Announcers pop up everywhere -- even in the studios -- and some of them garble song titles or blab right over the music. Alistair Cooke even narrates a "staged rehearsal" as if covering a cricket match. It's an invaluable lesson in the combined histories of jazz and radio.
For those who crave such information, here's a quick rundown of dates and locations. On January 9, 1940 the band broadcast over NBC from the Southland, a venue at 76 Warrenton Street in Boston, MA variously described as Café, Casino and Ballroom. On June 10, 1940 they broadcast from the CBS Studios in New York. On November 7, 1940 the Ellington orchestra played the Crystal Ballroom in Fargo, ND; the music played on that night was captured on a portable recording unit using 78 rpm discs. On April 3 and 4, as well as on June 6, 1943, Duke's band played the Hurricane Club in Times Square at Broadway and West 51st Street. On December 8, 1943, Ellington's orchestra entertained armed forces personnel at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, VA; three days later they gave a full-length concert at Carnegie Hall. On July 8, 1944, Duke took his band to the Naval Training Center in Bainbridge, MD. A performance in the New Zanzibar at West 49th and Broadway in New York City was recorded on September 26, 1945. In a rather unusual set of circumstances, Duke Ellington and his orchestra performed a contrived rehearsal at New York's World Studios on August 3, 1945; with announcements by Alistair Cooke, this material was broadcast only once, over the BBC network, on December 28, 1945. This stunning collection of uncommon recordings ends with live broadcasts from the Howard Theatre in Washington D.C. on April 20, 1946 and the Hollywood Empire Ballroom in Los Angeles during February 1949. Proof again that Duke Ellington spent most of his life on the road.
Customer Reviews
Related Searches
Explore More Items
Jazz concert recordings of the early 1940s are particularly prized by collectors, not only because ...
Jazz concert recordings of the early 1940s are particularly prized by collectors, not only because
it was one of the most vital and important periods in the music's history, but because the American Federation of Musicians, the union to which ...
Blues in Orbit lacks the intellectual cache of the suites and concept pieces that loomed ...
Blues in Orbit lacks the intellectual cache of the suites and concept pieces that loomed
large in Ellington's recordings of this period, but it's an album worth tracking down, if only to hear the band run through a lighter side ...
The third of nine volumes in this collector's series featuring Duke Ellington's transcriptions from 1943 ...
The third of nine volumes in this collector's series featuring Duke Ellington's transcriptions from 1943
and 1945; the best tracks are strong versions of Caravan and Ain't Misbehavin' (featuring trumpeter Harold Shorty Baker).
Part of a nine-LP series of Duke Ellington's transcriptions for the World Broadcasting System, Volume ...
Part of a nine-LP series of Duke Ellington's transcriptions for the World Broadcasting System, Volume
Four has particularly enjoyable versions of It Don't Mean a Thing, Johnny Come Lately and Creole Love Call although, due to the many alternates, it ...
Columbia's Greatest Hits features many of Duke Ellington's best-known songs and biggest hits, including Satin ...
Columbia's Greatest Hits features many of Duke Ellington's best-known songs and biggest hits, including Satin
Doll, Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Take the 'A' Train, Solitude, Mood Indigo, I'm Beginning to See the Light, Prelude to a Kiss and Perdido. ...
This late-period Duke Ellington album is perhaps most notable for including altoist Johnny Hodges' final ...
This late-period Duke Ellington album is perhaps most notable for including altoist Johnny Hodges' final
recordings. In fact, Hodges was supposed to record his first soprano solo in nearly 30 years on Portrait of Sidney Bechet, but he passed away ...
The first of ten CDs of previously unreleased material recorded privately by Ellington between engagements, ...
The first of ten CDs of previously unreleased material recorded privately by Ellington between engagements,
all of which was eventually reissued first on LMR and then Saja/Atlantic. Each of the sets has its interesting moments, offering previously unknown compositions and ...
Jazz violinist Stuff Smith moved to Copenhagen in 1965, spending the last two years of ...
Jazz violinist Stuff Smith moved to Copenhagen in 1965, spending the last two years of
his life there in an environment where his music was truly appreciated. This compilation from Storyville Records features live radio broadcasts and parts of a ...