Portrait of Duke Ellington

 (3 customer reviews)

Were this the only remaining LP in my collection, it would constitute sufficient argument to keep my turntable, cartridge, stylus, etc. in top playing condition. It's been digitalized, but as we're increasingly being made aware, the transferring of priceless music from vinyl to digital and its subsequent reissue on compact disc represents little else than a brief stay of execution: it's far from assurance of the music's preservation. Perhaps only Miles' "Kind of Blue" promises to be around for the unforeseeable future--or at least until the public can no longer afford to purchase CDs or MP3 downloads.

By common consensus the 4 essential, seminal, transformative artists in this music--those creative minds who clearly deserve the otherwise overused, cheapened word "genius"--are Armstrong, Ellington, Parker/Gillespie (take your pick), and Coltrane. (My personal experience requires the expansion of the list to 5, if only to make room for pianist Bill Evans--admittedly, not...Read more

I lost this one to theft about 7 years ago and it was one of the handful of really essential discs that I was unable to replace at the time. Absolutely superb covers of Ellington by Dizzy's late 50's big band. The version of Caravan in particular is priceless; the mute on the trumpet in the opening intro tiptoes around the harem, then the mute comes off as the sultan swaggers in. It's wonderful -- flashier than Ellington might have done, perhaps, but very nice; I'm sure Ellington approved as he has put together some strange versions of Caravan himself (look for Money Jungle, a trio setting with Ellington, Mingus and Max Roach, for a particularly spare version).

The only regret is that the copy I lost was a cheap reissue in a jewel case, not the expensive import version here which comes in a carboard sleeve mimicking the original LP jacket. It's a matter of taste but I prefer jewel cases where I can see the title on the spine when I'm scanning through my shelf.

I had LOTS of Ellington and Gillespie albums, but not this one. I saw it mentioned in the obit for Claire Fisher, who did the arrangements for this album. While I still prefer the Ellington originals, Fisher's charts are excellent too, and Dizzy's playing is wonderful, as expected. I would recommend this album to fans of both Duke and Diz.