Search - Duke Ellington :: Happy Birthday 4

Dance music after the end of the big band world

bukhtan | Chicago, Illinois, USA | 02/21/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is good but not outstanding Ellington from what many consider his fallow period, the contract with Capitol Records, roughly corresponding to the time when Duke had to get by without the great alto soloist, Johnny Hodges. The music on this disc was recorded at a dance in Portland, Oregon on April 29th, 1954.
Ray Nance, Clark Terry, Willie Cook and Cat Anderson make up the trumpet section; Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman, & John Sanders the trombones. Wendell Marshall (Jimmy Blanton's cousin) is the bassist with Dave Black on drums. Reed players are Harry Carney, Russell Procope, Jimmy Hamilton, Paul Gonsalves, & Rick Henderson (a young altoist with strong bop proclivities, he does not solo on this collection).
Duke himself does not appear on the first four numbers. The material derives from the Forties as well as the early Fifties. Particularly spirited is Ray Nance's performance on the oddly affecting Ellington pop song "Tulip or Turnip", a version of "Honeysuckle Rose" featuring Jimmy Hamilton on clarinet, and an extended "Band Call" by Duke himself. As always, it is a pleasure to hear Duke's orchestration, for example in the non-Ellington piece "Coffee and Kisses"."