Anatomy of a Murder

Woodface, this is a great record! Strangely I cant remember how it sounds during the movie. Its about time Ellington had a thread of his own. I really don"t have enough of his records but love The Dukes Men double Cds, His Mother called him Bill and the utterly fantastic Fargo concerts.

John.

Not heard of this one tell me more. I've probably got around 20 Ellington LP's and 'his mother called him Bill' is certainly among my favourites. I have a real soft spot for Johnny Hodges as he always leaves you wanting more. One album I urge you to try, if you can get it, is 'Inspired Abandon' by the Lawrence Brown Allstars. This is a small combo release made up of various Ellingtonions. I really cannot think of a single musical figure of the last 100 or so years who matches up to the great man.

The Dukes men Small Groups Vols 1 and 2 . They were 2 CD boxes released by Columbia of small groups taken from the orchestra (late 30s early 40s I think), usually Hodges , Cootie Williams, Barney Bigard etc. Absolutely stunning music. Can't recommend it h ighly enough. There is a version of Doojie Woojie on Vol1 I think, which may be the best song ever recorded. A lot of Hodges Impulse LPs are superb as well, Kinda Dukish, Everybody Loves Johnny Hodges, In Bed with Duke (?). Its very easy to pick up British pressings which sound superb for 4 -5 quid.Ellington Uptown in HIFI is another Ellington I ha ve which is great.There is a 23 ! CD complete RCA box Ive always thought about too.

John.do

Saw it last week on the telly.

Didn't realise that it was 'Duke' in the film until I looked at the cast list in the R.T.

Went on used Ellington LP hunt

Ellington Jazz Party (fabulous with guests Dizzy Gillespie and Little Jimmy Rushing)

Piano in The Background

At Newport (with the famous Gonsalvees solo)

Back to Back (Small group with Hodges, in glorious HMV mono, God they knew how to press LP in Hayes Middlesex)

Newport 58 (with gerry Mulligan)
In a Mellotone (Blanton Webster band ! )

All on HMV or Philips vinyl, with stunning sound £3 a pop. Search out these old pressings as they are gems (the same applies to anything on Fontana especially the Dutch pressings.

The music is utterly fabulous on all the discs.

John

What a record! The opening bars to Three Js Blues are the definition of swing. C Jam Blues quite frankly a masterpiece.

Lovely Philips pressing. Ah joy.

John
Increasingy amazed by Ellington's piano sound. Pig Eye Blues,bit of a dance now I feel.

Whenever I see an Ellington record 2nd hand I generally buy it but most of his stuff is on CD. One release definately worth checking out is the album with Frank Sinatra (Francis A and Edward K). This is superb and there is a real synergy between Johnny Hodges and Frank Sinatra, why they never recorded a small group album together is beyond me. As ever Hodges solos are just right and perfectly mirror Franks singing; perhaps the greatest thing about this record is the complete lack of ego!