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Masterpieces 1926-49
Box Set, Import
Price | New from | Used from |
Audio CD, Box set, Import, September 11, 2001
"Please retry" | $19.97 | — | $19.96 |
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Track Listings
Disc: 1
1 | East St. Louis Toodle-Doo |
2 | Birmingham Breakdown |
3 | Black and Tan Fantasy |
4 | Black Beauty |
5 | The Mooche |
6 | Awful Sad |
7 | The Blues with a Feelin' |
8 | Misty Mornin' |
9 | Flaming Youth |
10 | Hot Feet |
11 | Double Check Stomp |
12 | Ring Dem Bells |
13 | Old Man Blues |
14 | Mood Indigo |
15 | Rockin' in Rhythm |
16 | Echoes of the Jungle |
17 | The Mystery Song |
18 | It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) |
19 | Lazy Rhapsody |
20 | Creole Love Call |
21 | Blue Ramble |
22 | Ducky Wucky |
23 | Eerie Moan |
24 | Sophisticated Lady |
Disc: 2
1 | Slippery Horn |
2 | Drop Me Off at Harlem |
3 | Daybreak Express |
4 | Delta Serenade |
5 | Stompy Jones |
6 | Solitude |
7 | Blue Feeling |
8 | Saddest Tale |
9 | Moonglow |
10 | In a Sentimental Mood |
11 | Showboat Shuffle |
12 | Reminiscing in Tempo (PTS. 1, 2, 3, 4) |
13 | Clarinet Lament (Barney's Concerto) |
14 | Echoes of Harlem (Cootie's Concerto) |
15 | Black Butterfly |
16 | Caravan |
17 | Azure |
18 | Diminuendo in Blue |
19 | Crescendo in Blue |
20 | Steppin' Into Swing Society |
21 | Lost in Meditation |
Disc: 3
1 | I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart |
2 | Rose of the Rio Grande |
3 | Pyramid |
4 | Prelude to a Kiss |
5 | Blue Light (Transbluency) |
6 | Boy Meets Horn |
7 | Slap Happy |
8 | Serenade to Sweden |
9 | The Sergeant Was Shy |
10 | Jack the Bear |
11 | Ko-Ko |
12 | Congo Brava |
13 | Concerto for Cootie |
14 | Cotton Tail |
15 | Never No Lament |
16 | Dusk |
17 | Bojangles (A Portrait of Bill Robinson) |
18 | A Portrait of Bert Williams |
19 | Harlem Air-Shaft |
20 | All Too Soon |
21 | Sepia Panorama |
22 | In a Mellotone |
23 | Wam Valley |
24 | Across the Track Blues |
25 | Day Dream |
Disc: 4
1 | Pussy Willow |
2 | The Sidewalks of New York |
3 | Take the 'A' Train |
4 | Blue Serge |
5 | Just A-Settin' and A-Rockin' |
6 | I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) |
7 | Clementine |
8 | Jump for Joy |
9 | Chelsea Bridge |
10 | Raincheck |
11 | Perdido |
12 | The 'C' Jam Blues |
13 | Moon Mist |
14 | What Am I Here For? |
15 | Main Stem |
16 | Johnny Come Lately |
17 | I'm Beginning to See the Light |
18 | Transbluency |
19 | Lady of the Lavender Mist |
20 | Sultry Serenade |
21 | Air Conditioned Jungle |
22 | The Clothed Woman |
23 | Snibor |
Editorial Reviews
The genius of Duke, bandleader extraordinaire, pianist and greatest American composer of the 20th century is celebrated in the 93 docal masterpieces featured in this 4 CD box set. Ellington's achievements as composer, arranger, pianist and bandleadertouch a bewildering variety of levels, producing music that has never been surpassed.
Product details
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- Language : English
- Product Dimensions : 5.24 x 5.2 x 0.75 inches; 6.56 ounces
- Manufacturer : Proper Box Uk
- Original Release Date : 2001
- Date First Available : February 22, 2007
- Label : Proper Box Uk
- ASIN : B00005MOCT
- Country of Origin : United Kingdom
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #215,991 in CDs & Vinyl (See Top 100 in CDs & Vinyl)
- #253 in Orchestral Jazz
- #1,068 in Contemporary Big Band
- #1,155 in Classic Big Band
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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The sound quality is generally very good. A few tunes on the first CD are a bit scratchy, but that's understandable since the masters are nearly 80 years old.
With the low price and the great music, this is a bargain you shouldn't pass up!
Top reviews from other countries
What is so great about this collection is it cherry picks many seminal recordings of most of Ellingtons classic compositions from this period. The choice has not been restricted as many other Ellington compilations are to one particular label. Particularly in the earlier stages of his career Ellington and his orchestra did multiple recordings of each major composition for different labels, often under different pseudonyms. Understandably the tunes evolved and particular recordings are better than others.
These CD's offer a great opportunity to get familiar with the absolute classic compositions Ellington made with his massively infuential early line ups. A practical advantage of the CD's is they have all the titles available for read out on CD players which is particularly useful if you are playing them in the car as initially you may well be overwhelmed by 93 compositions on this collection.
As far as sound quality this is an issue particularly of the early recordings. I admit I was puzzled reading about how much effort Ellington made in relation to sound quality in the studio compared with for example Fletcher Henderson as some of the earliest recordings sound a bit like they were recorded down a toilet. I now realise that to make this collection affordable various sources have been used and they are of variable quality. The sound quality however substantially improves from Bojangles onwards and is very good for the seminal Blanton Webster recordings.
There are compilations with much better sounding early recordings particularly Early Ellington and the Complete RCA Centennial Edition but they are no longer available so are very pricey and are restricted to particular labels so they are nowhere as good a starting point as this complilation for someone to dip their toe into the Ellington ocean to see what its like.
If you love what you find you can work on the sound quality later with either the later recorded versions or the more expensive high quality compilations like those on Mosaic later. All of the recordings are studio based with the exception of Pussy Willow which comes from the classic Fargo concert. If you asked me for my favourite tracks on this compilation I would struggle there are just too many. Better option is just to buy it instead.
Add to this Duke's famed live concert recordings from Fargo (1940) and Newport (1956) and you will arguably have all that you need. What none of these discs cover though are a generous handful of ellington's classics, such as take the A train, the early version of the black and tan fantasy and indeed a host of other numbers to emerge from his fruitful partnership with billy strayhorn. Throw in those, add a healthy dose of ellington's indispensable work at the cotton club and you have this 4CD set, in my opinion just what you need to complete your core collection of ellington recordings. As such, it deserves no less than 5 stars.
Oh heck. I just listened to In a Sentimental Mood Again.I'm giving it 5 stars after all. 93 tracks at about 10p a track for goodness sake. If you love Ellington, you'll need this collection some day