SwingDJs

Greg, what's the website for that cd, Koko?
According to the duke ellington society page, another volume is out, Take The A-Train.

"The Glory of '40 in the Best Sound Ever:
Savage Music With Modern Comfort"

hahaha... I LOVE IT!

So, there's two extra-clean reissues of the blanton/webster stuff?

Essentially. Some new releases are listed on their front page http://www.depanorama.net/ although i'm not sure whether the material is previously unreleased or not.

Nice find, Rayned. I'm very interested to hear if anyone thinks the remastering on these recordings is better than the 1999 Centennial edition remastering, which blew away the "Blanton Webster Era" set's re-mastering of these songs to which I was accustomed. They are the same dates, not newly-released recordings. The guy who wrote that webpage said that he had never heard these songs so well re-mastered, but I wonder if that is because he did not get/listen to the Centennial Edition?

Even if it is just a subset of what the Centennial Edition provided, I'd highly recommend them. This period includes my favorite Ellington songs (Jack... and Ko-Ko), which I've never found in a modern, Hi-Fi recording by Ellington. I do have a Big Band all-star (like a Big 18 gig) hi-fi recording of Jack the Bear, but nothing new on Ko-Ko. (That's why I was so shocked to hear the SWT Big Band at the Austin Exchange last year play Ko-Ko: never heard it so clear.)

Lawrence wrote:This period includes my favorite Ellington songs (Jack... and Ko-Ko), which I've never found in a modern, Hi-Fi recording by Ellington. I do have a Big Band all-star (like a Big 18 gig) hi-fi recording of Jack the Bear, but nothing new on Ko-Ko. (That's why I was so shocked to hear the SWT Big Band at the Austin Exchange last year play Ko-Ko: never heard it so clear.)

Actually Greg found the cd, trying to figure out who he ordered it from.
Also Ellington did re-record Koko and Jack the Bear in 1956 on a cd
called Historically Speaking.

CafeSavoy wrote:Also Ellington did re-record Koko and Jack the Bear in 1956 on a cd called Historically Speaking.

Thanks, man! You don't know how excited I am about that!! I had checked a few years ago, and my allmusic serach (and searches elsewhere) for those songs did not include that record.

Hmmm, the version of Jack the Bear I sampled off Amazon.com from that album didn't sound too bad, but I have a hi-fi version I like better. Its a version of Jack the Bear that I got off Tony Q who found it on some "(something) Party" album. Jesse has it.

Ron, that version of "Jack The Bear" is by the Duke Ellington Orchestra and would be found on the album "Big Band Jazz & Blues":



Sadly, the liner notes are non-existent, so I have no information about the band's line-up or when it was exactly recorded.

Great stuff though.

Jesse

Rayned, did you do a sound quality comparison between that disc and your other versions? I'd love to hear your opinion.

JesseMiner wrote:Ron, that version of "Jack The Bear" is by the Duke Ellington Orchestra and would be found on the album "Big Band Jazz & Blues":



Sadly, the liner notes are non-existent, so I have no information about the band's line-up or when it was exactly recorded.

Great stuff though.

Jesse

I have that one, Jesse. (I think I shared it with you a few years back in SF.) Great CD. I'm pretty sure that the track list indicates merely that it was performed by "members of" Duke Ellington's Orchestra, not Duke Ellington. Same with "members of COunt Basie's Orchestra" on other tracks. Not sure what the difference is because, as you said, the liner notes don't exist. It seems to be another Big 18-type revival recording, not Duke and Basie, themselves, and not necessarily all of the supporting cast, either. Also, I listened to the clip of "Jack" off of the "Historically Speaking" version of Jack the Bear, and it is definitely a different version than this Big Band All-Star version.

The main thing I was bemoaning is that Duke recorded dozens of versions of A Train, Mellow Tone, and many others, both live and in studio "Big Band revival" recordings... why not dozens of Jack the Bear and Ko-Ko from the Blanton Webster Era when they were playing with dissonance and more complex melodies that really worked? Somewhat like how The Who recorded "Tommy" live several times for commercial releases, but never recorded "Quadrophenia" live, even though the latter is (in my opinion) a much better rock opera. Why, pray, tell, WHY?!?!?!

Here you go all... Now y'all can compare the Dreyfus disc to the centennial edition material.


Dreyfus Tracks (off of Amazon France) on Translated page - http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... oe%3DUTF-8


Centennial Tracks - http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/ ... 0266367221


Enjoy.


**Note: If anybody can find a site that actually has the entire centennial set up for listening samples, post the link.

bn.com has samples for the whole centennial ellingtonian avalance

The new reissue of teh Blanton Webster Band (Never No Lament) is pulled rom the Centenial Edition. The sond is great. A great leap forward from the previous one Blue Bird put out.

On top of the improved sound they have include the the duets between Ellington and Blanton. You cold only get these on imports or a seperat album until now.

Ron wrote:...but I have a hi-fi version I like better...

Good old Ron.