A unique big band jazz album
5
By rdw_audiofossil
This is a very unusual album -- it is a recording of a live jazz session Duke Ellington pulled together on short notice, and offered him an opportunity to experiment with the new-fangled stereo recording techniques Columbia was helping (along with RCA) to pioneer. He lined up a series of percussion instruments (including marimba, vibraphone, xylophones and a glockenspiel) across the front of the band to demonstrate the stereo effect. He pulls a similar stunt with timpani later in the album. The rest of the pieces are more conventional Ellington, but all are beautifully performed by a band composed almost entirely of A-list side men, and featuring Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet. Incidentally, the audience heard in the background is just a few dozen friends of Ellington and other band members, and hangers-on who were in the studio. Altogether, a fabulous example of big band jazz at its best.
