So, where the previous Duke record I listened to was a collection of his compositions played by another group of players, Ellington ’55 is a legitimate Duke Ellington record, with the Duke himself behind the piano and the men who played with him playing his tunes the way they played them.
And there’s a huge difference between Ellington’s band and anyone else.
On Mingus’ The Clown, I referred to the composer/bandleader’s ability to balance beauty and chaos. On Oh Yeah, he eschews both the more pleasant side of that balance and his upright bass, leading a sort of post-apocalyptic blues album from piano.
Given that I’m not entirely sure how to best describe the perfect combination of chaos and beauty that is typical of Charles Mingus’ works, I’ll just leave this video of Haitian Fight Song, the best and most famous of the tracks here. Enjoy.
I do love me some jazz. Although, as you’re likely to see later on, the subgenre swing does not get too much attention from me. My jazz of choice tends to veer more toward cool, hard bop, and various strands of avant-garde. Although, having played in the jazz band at my high school, I can appreciate good swing when I hear it. And for the most part, Benny Goodman’s Greatest Hits compiles good swing. At times, it teeters dangerously close to clarinet-led monotony, each composition starting to sound the same after a while.