The Private Collection, Volume 02

Product Description:

Personnel: Duke Ellington (piano); Ray Nance (vocals, trumpet, violin); Ozzie Bailey (vocals); Russell Procope (alto saxophone, clarinet); Bill Graham (alto saxophone); Jimmy Hamilton (tenor saxophone, clarinet); Paul Gonsalves (tenor saxophone); Harry Carney (baritone saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet); Harold "Shorty" Baker, Clark Terry (trumpet); Britt Woodman, Quentin Jackson, John Sanders (trombone); Jimmy Woode (bass); Sam Woodyard (drums).

Includes liner notes by Stanley Dance.

With excellent stereo fidelity and 16 cuts in all, DANCE CONCERTS offers a generous look at what the Ellington band sounded like in the late 50s when they were just working--in this case, playing a dance at an air force base in California. While Duke would take advantage of more formal concert settings to feature excerpts from his extended works (as on Malaco Jazz's PARIS JAZZ CONCERT, recorded the same year), playing for dancers was clearly another story. The band strolls through both standards and various repertoire items in no particular order but including the Cotton Club--era "The Mooch," with its wailing "jungle sound" clarinets, the Harry Carney feature "Sophisticated Lady" and of course, "Take The 'A' Train," which receives both instrumental treatment and a hilarious vocal rendition by Ray Nance, in an affectionate sendup of Dizzy Gillespie's goofier side. In fact, these recordings generally convey a sense that the music you're hearing is being made by real humans. You can hear both Duke's respectful introduction of the featured sidemen on various tunes, and the musicians calling out their encouragement to one another as things get more heated onstage.