There are simply a certain number of jazz records that you have to hear and include in your collection. Likewise, there are specific small groups and big bands that everyone, not just jazz fans, but MUSIC and LIFE fans need to know about to understand civilization. Duke Ellington, who held together an orchestra for about half a century created a unique sound with his instrument, aka “The Duke Ellington Orchestra.” His 1939-41 band is considered the apex of their talent and vision. Loaded with Hall of Famers like Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, Rex Stewart and Lawrence Brown and anchored by the sui generis Harry Carney, this band was blessed with the short-lived bass pioneer, Jimmy Blanton, who transformed the instrument from a rhythm to a solo instrument, changing the shape of jazz to come.
This band, like in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, is captured on “an average” show, in that swinging jazz center of Fargo, North Dakota in November of 1940. That is what makes this gig so glorious, it’s just a regular day in heaven, with classics like “Caravan,” “Rockin’ In Rhythm” and “Sophisticated Lady,” being just another part of the dance. Little did anyone know that they’d be dancing and wooing to music that would NEVER get better in Western Civilization. The first part of the dance was actually a radio broadcast, with the list of “Sepia Panorama” to “Pussy Willow” to “Chatterbox” to Mood Indigo” to “Harlem Airshaft and ending up with “Warm Valley” being the best 30 minutes you’ll ever spend with sound. The harmonies of Ellington’s reed section, melded with the horns still, after thousands of listens by yours truly, continues to bewilder my mind. Then, there are chords produced by the orchestra during “Conga Brava” that can only be described as unworldly.
Then there are the soloists. Ben Webster. BEN WEBSTER!!!! He creates Moses in Chains on his tenor during “Star Dust,” while Harry Carney sounds like the La Brea Tar Pits on “Slap Happy.” Barney Bigard never sounded better here, as on “The Mooche” or “Clarinet Lament.” Rex Stewart on “Boy Meets Horn” does everything with his cornet valves except use them for a Volkswagon. Vocalists Ivie Anderson and Herb Jeffries are glowing as well.
Before my dear old dad departed to glory, he used to say that he had four questions to ask God when he finally saw Him face to face on things he didn’t understand while on this side of heaven. They were, a) The existence of evil b) The Trinity c) how Jesus could be God and Man and d) How Duke Ellington’s orchestra got its sound. “They’re all mysteries!” he’d exclaim. At least my dad now knows. It’s that important.
Storyville Records
www.storyvillerecords.com