Duke Ellington - The Great Chicago Concerts

My research recently has focused on Oscar Pettiford during his time with Duke Ellington, so there'll be quite a few upcoming posts on Ellington's band in 1946.  This 2-disc set from 1994 features material from two concerts at the Civic Opera House in Chicago, the first disc is from November 10, 1946 and the second from January 20, 1946.  

Now you might be wondering why the concert with the later date is up first, and it turns out, to my surprise, that Django Reinhardt was on tour with the band in the fall of 1946.  I read up a little on it and there's a big backstory behind Reinhardt coming to the U.S. with grand expectations since he was going to be touring with Ellington only to be disappointed by a number of things, including being given an electric guitar to play!  He was still proud to have played with Ellington.

Anyway, the music on here is excellent.  The recording quality isn't great, there are volume discrepancies here and there (trumpets are loud and clear :) and a couple of tracks just start with the introduction and/or head being cut off.  But the band sounds great, playing with enthusiasm and spirit.  As I listen to music of the Swing Era, I've found that live recordings are sometimes preferable to studio recordings.  Something about the raw sound kind of adds to the excitement.  This is not the case with Ellington studio recordings as they sound great, but I have a number of, say Artie Shaw or Glenn Miller studio recordings and my Bluebird compilations sound so flat and dull.  I was shocked when I heard some live recordings of that era and heard and felt the energy of the band and the concert.

1946 was not a great year for big bands.  The excitement of the Swing Era was over and big bands were trying to figure out how to remain together and relevant as public tastes were changing.  Ellington has always been writing extended compositions, but with "Black, Brown, & Beige" (1943), it became part of his identity.  It helped too that he was playing somewhat regularly at Carnegie Hall (regularly here meaning at least a few times a year), and would premiere a new extended suite each time.  So this became part of the Ellington identity, unfortunately this was not enough to maintain the visibility of the band.  By 1946, many of his star soloists, like Ben Webster, Rex Stewart, Cootie Williams, Tricky Sam Nanton, Barney Bigard were gone.  Johnny Hodges, Lawrence Brown, Cat Anderson, and Jimmy Hamilton were still there, but there was something missing.  

Subsequently, this edition of the Ellington band is not that well-known and I had to look around to find recordings of this band.  When I finally heard the music, I was knocked out: the band sounds great and Oscar Pettiford was truly a monster on the bass.  He is noticeably more speedy than his recording from the 1950s and I'm pretty sure it's because the Ellington recordings were made prior to Pettiford's accident which rendered him immobile for a while and forced him to rethink how he played the bass.  His first cello recordings were one result and I assume now that one reason why he doubled on this instrument because it was easier on his body to play the smaller instrument.   

This music is very refreshing because it sounds like Ellington front to back, but it's not the same 10 Ellington tunes that are heard all the time.  True, "Caravan", "In a Mellow Tone", "Take the 'A' Train", and "Things Ain't What They Used To Be" are here, but otherwise the music is filled with compositions and extended suites that I am not familiar with.  "Caravan" is slower and much more laid-back then the way it is typically played today.  The arrangement is also quite interesting with new solo changes and the bass joining in on the answer when it gets to the I chord.  Basically the music fits into a few categories: extended compositions, bright swing pieces, and ballads.

  

The first extended suite heard here is"The Deep South Suite".  According to Ellington, the second movement, Hearsay,  is "concerned with things that were not at all in accordance with the Chamber of Commerce dream picture," Stanley Dance in the liner notes adds "with such things, say, as a lynching, Shorty Baker's stark, accusing trumpet statements are unblinking remembrances of tragic happenings."  It's 1946, so Ellington could not be explicit about what he thought of how African Americans were being treated at the time, and in this light this movement is powerful.much darker and somber.  There's a solo by Harold "Shorty" Baker, but otherwise muted brass and low saxes, especially Bari, dominate this piece.  

The third movement, There was nobody looking, is solo Ellington piano and is just wonderful,  The mood is friendlier and there is some stride, beautiful melodies contrasted with chromatic passages and rich harmonies.  Besides being jazz's top composer, his piano playing is so important---especially if you think that Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck and Cecil Taylor among others consider him an influence.  From "Black Beauty" in 1927 to "Lotus Blossom" in 1967, his solo works are wonderful.  

This is not a well-known work, but should be.  Given today's political climate and the demand for change, hopefully band directors will play it.  The first two movements were recorded for a V-disc in 1947, but I'm not sure if the other two movements were recorded at all.  

The other extended pieces include excerpts from Black, Brown, and Beige (a medley of "Come Sunday" and "Work Song"), The Perfume Suite, and The Tonal Group.  Some of the other songs were not suites but were written in that same dramatic style like The Golden Feather (a reference to critic Leonard Feather), and The Air Conditioned Jungle.

Of the ballads, many are features for alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges à la "Warm Valley" or "Blood Count" such as "Sultry Sunset" and "Magenta Haze".  Trombonist Lawrence Brown, one of the other main soloists featured on the concerts) gets a ballad feature on "Circe".  

Ellington didn't write any special arrangements for Django Reinhardt, so the four tracks with Reinhardt feature him improvising the whole time with the piano/bass/drums.  The rest of the band only comes in for the ending.  On these tracks he sounds incredible.  He seems to have digested the bebop vocabulary (he apparently demanded to meet Dizzy Gillespie upon meeting Ellington!!!) playing neighboring tone lines and tritone subs, but he's also so good at varying the texture of his lines throwing in chords, double stops, and even some well-placed bends here and creating some nice dramatic moments.  I think it's interesting that he bends, as I don't believe that is common for straight ahead guitarists.  Besides "Blues Riff" and "Honeysuckle Rose", there is "Ride Red Ride" which contains a fascination early example of metric modulation and "Improvisation, #2" a solo piece.  

What can I say about Oscar Pettiford?  Ellington knew that he had a fabulous bassist, so Pettiford would often get a few licks in during the introduction of a piece.  But it's on "Pitter Panther Patter" from the January concert where Pettiford blazes through the tune.  It was strange to hear someone else play a melody and those were HUGE shoes to fill at that time and he really manages to forge his own identity, improvising his own lines.  Accompanying the band, Pettiford was driving the bus and you can hear the energy in his lines.  He also seemed to enjoy walking in the upper register of the instrument and staying there--on "Frankie and Johnny" it sometimes seem as if he was doing this per Ellington's request as way to be featured.  The piano solo there is terrific and at times sounds like Herbie Hancock!  Yes, Ellington was truly a modernist.

Tenor saxophonist Al Sears was the replacement for Ben Webster and he strikes me as understated and not as dominating.  Like Webster and other tenor players of his generation, his sound could be mellow and caressing; interestingly enough, after reaching the high register on "Hiawatha", he reverts back to softer sounds for his cadenza when other players would have gone for high notes and drama.   To compliment Sears' sound, Ellington's (or Strayhorn's) backgrounds feature high and shrill saxophones and clarinets. Searshad a different temperament, but he was still a strong player, his other feature is on "Surburbanite".  In addition to having played with Andy Kirk, Lionel Hampton and Johnny Hodges, he would later play in R&B settings and would become one of the first African American executives working at ABC-Paramount.