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Duke Ellington Swings!
The Music of the Duke
Telarc/Music Gallery
CD, Rs. 575
Duke Ellington was not merely one of the greatest performers in the history of jazz but also indisputably its greatest and most prolific composer. Ellington expressed his credo, which also expresses the philosophy of jazz, in the title of the last number in this collection, "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing", and every track here proves that Ellington lived by that credo.
It's unsurprising that jazz musicians continue to draw on his compositions and follow his credo.
Three fast-paced swinging numbers are performed by the singer-drummer Mel Tormι leading a big band with the kind of line-up that was the Duke's bread-and-butter. Of these, "It Don't Mean a Thing ..." with its series of solos by piano, bass, drums and scat vocals is a fitting climax to the album.
The other numbers are all performed by small groups. Though some of them are slow-paced and in a sombre mood, all combine compelling melodies and swinging rhythm with very solid improvisation.
The majority of the leaders on these tracks are pianists such as Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck and Ahmad Jamal, whose virtuosity is more evident than Ellington's usually was in the ambience of his big band.
All of them are treats for a jazz buff, but Peterson's rendition of "In a Mellow Tone", boasting a series of solos on piano, bass, guitar and flugelhorn, stands out. So does Dave Brubeck's version of Ellington's foot-tapping theme, "Take the `A' Train", with solos by piano, bass, drums and alto saxophone.
Dizzy Gillespie: Triple Play
Telarc/Music Gallery
Three-CD set, Rs. 1,600
Dizzy Gillespie was a few months past his 74th birthday and just into the final year of his life when these superlative live recordings were made. Two volumes of this set, To Bird With Love and Bird Songs, were recorded during January 23-25, 1992, and the third, `To Diz with Love', during January 29-February 1, 1992, all at the Blue Note in New York.
Amazingly, these were just a few of the 47 concerts in a month that the master trumpeter gave to celebrate his diamond jubilee as a jazz performer. Besides, he then embarked on a year-long international concert tour, which must have been slightly truncated by terminal illness of which he had no inkling at the time.
It was Gillespie's close collaboration with the alto saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker some five decades earlier that led to the innovation of be-bop, a genre that revolutionised jazz, turning it from mere entertainment into a supreme art form.
These discs, showcases of be-bop, draw on compositions by Gillespie, Parker and their followers. Gillespie leads a rhythm section (piano, bass, and drums) and, on each track, two saxophonists (tenor and/or alto) for the two discs dedicated to Bird, and for the one dedicated to himself, two trumpeters on each track.
They range in age from slightly junior buddies to relative youngsters, many of them Latin jazz stars discovered and promoted by Gillespie himself. One track even has 86-year-old Doc Cheatham and 18-year-old Jon Faddis, both of whom acknowledge their debt to Gillespie, sharing the trumpet honours with him.
Cheatham, who lived till mid-1997, shows no sign of flagging vigour. As for Gillespie, any thought that these must have been valedictory appearances in which he had starring but short roles can be quickly dispelled by hearing him soloing long and zestfully on every single track.
While he leads from the front, each track is studded with brilliant solos by the fellow-trumpeters or saxophonists, the pianist, the bassist and often the drummer.
The sparks fly especially when the musicians "trade" short solos. Every performer gives of his best and rises to the challenge of be-bop at its pinnacle thrown by its pioneer, who occasionally lays his trumpet aside for a virtuoso display of vocal improvisation in the style known as scat singing. On a couple of tracks he is joined by the specialist scat singer Bobby McFerrin. In these interludes Gillespie's well-known love of humour shines through.
In such a cornucopia of both exciting and sublime music, it's nearly impossible to pick out a few tracks for special mention. But two versions of Gillespie's classic composition "A Night in Tunisia", Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo" and Gillespie's "Con Alma" (both sedately paced amid the other, frenetic, tracks), one version of Charlie Parker's "Ornithology" (with McFerrin), "Oo Pa Pa Da" (with Gillespie and McFerrin both scatting) and Gillespie's "Be-bop" particularly caught my ear.
The price might may look steep in these days of 300-rupee CDs, but what's Rs. 1,600 for three CDs (each volume is also available separately for Rs. 575), three and a quarter hours of pure joy from the greatest jazz musician of them all, someone who derived pure joy from his music and from the joy he brought to his audiences?
Gillespie used to say that music is "serious fun". One can't think of a better way to have serious fun than these, his diamond jubilee concerts.
JAZZEBEL
(CDs distributed by Music Gallery can be ordered through reputed music stores or by contacting Music Gallery India Pvt Ltd: through the Web at www.musicgalleryindia.com/contactus.htm; by email to contactus@musicgalleryindia.com; or on the phone at 080-2556 5996.)
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