Duke Ellington - Volume 3 The Uncollected Duke Ellington and his Orchestra 1946

Hindsight records moves forward with this third volume of its uncollected series featuring Duke Ellington and his Orchestra from 1946.  There are five albums from the period 1946-1947 and are a collection of unissued radio transcriptions from July 16-17, 1946.  Though it is more or less the same band on these sides, not a single song is repeated.  So far each volume has a slightly different theme or focus: the first one feature a lot of the band's current repertoire, the second had the same but was also contrasted with some Count Basie material.  This third volume contains older and current repertoire as well as an inordinate amount of standards: "Indiana", "On the Alamo", "Tea for Two", and "Just You, Just Me".

At Carnegie Hall, where Ellington had been playing years since 1943 (including two appearances in 1946), the material was entirely original with a focus on serious pieces and usually premiering a new suite.  Since these are radio transcriptions, Ellington knew he was playing for dancers so the mood of the pieces are quite different.  Nevertheless, hearing Ellington play other people's work is always terrific and of course they sound like him.  

With a program of standards and other jam songs (including Ellington's "In a Jam"), there is a lot of improvisation and it is first rate.  The usual suspects are here (Johnny Hodges, Jimmy Hamilton, Al Sears, Lawrence Brown, Taft Jordan, Ray Nance, and Cat Anderson.), but no matter who is soloing, the expressiveness is always high.   One moment it sounds very sweet and then very sassy.  It's not just the soloist, but everybody in the band---the trombone section sounds just wonderful and might be my favorite section in the band.   

One of the highlights is "Moon Mist" which features Nance on violin.  His solo is wonderful and not at all technical but instead, like Hodges and Brown, very expressive with all kinds of nuances.  In fact, I almost feel like, Hodges in particular, with all of the bending and slow glisses that move upward, that they're imitating a slide guitarist, punctuated with vibrato at the top of the line.   Johnny Hodges is heard here on ballads and medium to uptempo tunes.  

Then there are the individual features: "I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me" has baritone saxophonist Harry Carney playing the melody and taking a long solo, while "Tea for Two" is a feature for trumpeter Taft Jordan with clarinet backgrounds behind his solo.  "Just You, Just Me" doesn't feature anyone in particular, but Jimmy Hamilton is heard here in a rare solo on tenor saxophone. The version of "Indiana" stands out as being the least Ellington-like and was different than the version the band normally played.  At the time of release in 1978, there were no other recordings of this version of the tune---this was over forty years ago at this point, so perhaps other recordings have been unearthed.  If I do come across another version of this rather commercial sounding version, I'll write about it.

"Surburbanite" is an uptempo feature for tenor saxophonist Al Sears.  Depending upon the tempo, I feel like Sears is a bit like Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde:  At slower tempos, like on "On the Alamo", Sears is plays very warmly and softly, practically whispering or caressing the notes.   But at faster tempos, he's wailing and his timbre is different, wailing and squealing in a much more tense manner that is demanding of one's attention.  I feel like other tenor players (Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, etc.) of this era played like this.  John Coltrane may have had played differently at different tempos, but I feel that his tone never changed.  The same goes for Charlie Parker or Dexter Gordon, I can't think off the top of my head of modern saxophone players who alter their tone that dramatically depending upon the tempo.  I guess it's an old-fashioned style of playing---rhythm and blues tenor saxophone players adopted that sound no matter the tempo in the 1940s and perhaps bebop musicians were trying to distance themselves away from this style of playing---I assume Coltrane could play in this style if he was playing in an R&B band and walking the bar when Benny Golson famously walked in.  

Bassist Oscar Pettiford sounds terrific as usual.  I've talked about in other posts how loud he is on these uncollected recordings in particular.  He sounds like he was mixed higher than the rest of the band.  His bass comes through very clearly even when he walks in his upper register which is often.  While he doesn't solo for any extended amount of time, he gets a few licks in a few introductions.  But his time-keeping is impeccable and he delivers swing.  

CD version

Some of the lesser known tunes include the romantic medium tempoed "Someone" written by Ellington.  Recorded in 1942, it features an unusual pyramid scheme of soloists: Hodges, Brown, Nance, Brown, and Hodges.  "The Unbooted Character" was a feature for trumpeter Harold "Shorty" Baker is another jam kind of tune with features for Brown,  Hamilton on clarinet, and trading from Nance and Jordan.   It was featured in the November 10 concert in Chicago and was re-titled "A Very Unbooted Character".

There are also two great compositions by Billy Strayhorn.  "Double Ruff" refers to a drum rudiment that Sonny Greer plays and is another jam-type of tune.  Again, this was in 1978 the only known recording of this tune.  But one of the highlights of the album is the Johnny Hodges feature "A Flower is a Lovesome Thing". 

This was tune was part of the band's repertoire from this era and was captured on a couple of radio transcriptions besides this one.  However, a studio version was not completed until 1960 and even this version, with Carney playing the melody, went unissued until 1979.  After another unissued take from 1963, the only Ellington version of this very beautiful was captured on the collaboration with Ella Fitzgerald in 1965.  This version is an absolute gem and Strayhorn's love for the Impressionists can be heard in the wonderful backgrounds behind Hodges.  This early version also does not feature the chromatic chords at the cadence that was first introduced in the session from 1960.  Besides the lovely, whole-tone-y arrangement and Hodges sound is the presence of Strayhorn on piano.  There's none of that flashy swagger that Ellington exudes when he plays piano.  Strayhorn plays like the soft-spoken person he is and his presence on this track makes it more haunting than it already is.   Whereas Ellington relishes varying the texture and utilizing the entire range of the piano, Strayhorn is more harmonically focused playing some chillingly modern voicings.  It's beautiful and he is gently soloing (with chords arpeggiated and not) throughout the entire piece.  

"The Mooche" dates back to 1927 and this version is taken at a slow tempo.  Somehow it is more quiet and clean, with Nance's trumpet carefully whispering through the very fragile-sounding arrangement.  Noteworthy is Carney's wondrous fills on bass clarinet behind Hamilton's clarinet solo and the trading between Hodges and trombonist  "Tricky Sam" Nanton with his trademark plunger mute.  Ironically it sounds more like a funeral march and tragically, it turned out to be the last recorded solo by Nanton as he died just four days later.