upcoming Duke Ellington Blanton - Webster reissue

Posted by: Sigmund on 05 March 2003

On April 1, BMG plans to reissue a three cd set of 74 masters taken from the DE centennial box. Title: Never No Lament.

Posted on: 06 March 2003 by David Hobbs-Mallyon

Not sure what the DE you're referring to is - hopefully you mean the reissues from the complete RCA Victor recordings, which apparently are in very good sound. I've been waiting for this reissue for sometime - slightly worried by the April 1st reissue date though.

David

Posted on: 06 March 2003 by Sigmund

Yep. BMG says they used the same masters as the centennial box. I know some folks like the Definitive label's version. It is cheaper but I, for one, don't like to support them. I think they knock off other folks' hard work even if it may be public domain.

Posted on: 06 March 2003 by David Hobbs-Mallyon

Thanks for the info. I will definitely be getting this. For those that haven't heard of this - it's the Ellington band at their peak in the early 40s. Sound is not ideal, but this reissue should be about as good as it gets.

David

Posted on: 14 May 2003 by David Hobbs-Mallyon

Finally received my copy, pretty cheap also on Amazon - the sound is a massive improvement over my old set on some dodgy label. Well worth getting if you want to hear Ellington's band at their best.

David