I’ve listened to the first 20 Volumes of Storyville’s collection of Duke Ellington’s radio broadcasts, and after taking in the 21st 2 cd set, I have only one thing to say, “MORE!”
Most of the material here has Ellington’s band from July of 1946. A July 6 broadcast I Los Angeles has the all star reed section of Hamilton, Procope, Hodges, Sears and Carney and Oscar Pettiford is still in the rhythm section. The fun part of these shows is that you get a chance to hear some rare Ellingtonia. In this case, there is “Sono” which feature Harry Carney, and a jam called “Metronome All Out” which allow Pettiford, Hamilton and Duke himself to stretch out a bit along riffs reminiscent of “Diminuendo In Blue.” Cat Anderson sounds wonderful on the bouncy “ Teardrops in the Rain” and Al Hibbler teams with Ray Nance’s violin for the obscure gem “Laughing On The Outside.”
The band swings like crazy on “ Suddenly It Jumped” and Johnny Hodges swoons on “Passion Flower” and some great band harmonics come out on “A Gathering In A Clearing.” The sound quality is excellent, and Sears’ tenor is warm and breathy, particularly when he teams up with Kay Davis on “The Blues.” There are also a handful of songs from a pair of 1942 broadcasts. The sound quality is down a notch, but who’s going to complain when you have Ben Webster/s tenor and either Barney Bigard or Chauncey Haughton on clarinet and Rex Stewart on the horn, as the band wails on “Main Stem” and “Ko Ko” and one of only two exposures of the obscure “Swing Shifters Swing” which features Bigard in his glory. Please tell us there’s more to come!!!
Storyville Records