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Chords & Notes
Duke Ellington: Carnegie Hall Concerts December 1947
Prestige/Virgin Records; Two-CD set, Rs. 700
STARTING IN the early 1940s, Duke Ellington took his orchestra to Carnegie Hall every Christmas to give concerts on two successive days. When the first of the two 1947 concerts, which had identical programmes, took place on December 26, most of New York was reeling under a blizzard.
The audience was naturally sparse and the musicians, understandably, were figuratively under the weather as much as literally so. This two-CD set therefore draws almost entirely from the next evening's performance, but for the last track.
At this time, in the pre-LP age, such concerts afforded Ellington an opportunity to perform some of his longer compositions and offer extended renditions, often with more developed solos, of his popular tunes. Ellington had for long been writing longer orchestral works, of which his six-part Liberian Suite, which takes up the first half of the second CD, is a good example.
The six parts among themselves feature a wealth of solos from various contrasting sounds in the Ellington band, including baritone and tenor saxophones, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, vibraphone, piano and drums, and are finely balanced between symphonic music and jazz improvisation.
The four-part "Theme Medley" on the same disc also features trumpet and trombone among other instruments, while the "Johnny Hodges Medley" on the first disc is, as its name implies, dominated by Hodges, the orchestra's alto saxophonist and star soloist, with his lyrical tone and phrasing.
The album is peppered with other Ellington favourites. The fast-paced "Trumpets no End", the last track, reworks a pop favourite to feature solos by — what else? — the five trumpeters, and shows little or no effect of the snow the musicians had trudged through to keep their date.
Lee Morgan: Taru
Blue Note/Virgin Records; CD, Rs 400
IN HIS n his brief life (1938-72), cut short by a shooting affray over a woman, Lee Morgan established himself with his distinctive tone and the variety of rhythms and moods he expressed on his trumpet. Primarily a hard bop exponent, he could rip off acrobatic note sequences and play lyrically on ballads, becoming especially famous for his work with "funk" rhythms.
This album, recorded in 1968, is a fine example of his work as a leader after his stint with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in the '50s and '60s. Only six tracks here, but they include a couple of ballads ("Haeschen" and "Taru, What's Wrong with You?"), funky pieces ("Dee Lawd" and "Durem") and bop-type scorchers.
Throughout, Morgan's warm trumpet tone is evident, sharing the bulk of the solos with Bennie Maupin in tenor saxophone and John Hicks on piano. The young George Benson on guitar, pre-dating his switch to jazz-rock and jazz-pop, also contributes meaty solos on "Avotcja One" and "Dee Lawd", while "Get Yourself Together", with a series of solos by tenor sax, trumpet and piano, also features all three of them in exchanges with an inspired Billy Higgins on drums. The sixth member of the group, Reggie Workman on bass, doesn't take any solos but is workmanlike in his efficiency at the deep end.
JAZZEBEL
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