Name: Blues In Orbit
Brand: Duke Ellington

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

772183LP

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

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Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2017-05-16

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

8436559462303

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Total Cap

1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Duke Ellington

Genre US

Jazz

Label US

Wax Time

<p>Duke Ellington was an influential American jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. He is known for his residency at the Cotton Club from 1927 to 1931 and for composing over a thousand pieces, many of which have become standards in the genre. He frequently collaborated with Billy Strayhorn. Duke Ellington's son, Mercer Ellington, took over leadership of his father's orchestra until his own death in 1996. He is also the grandfather of Edward Ellington.</p>

The atmospheric, floating quality (see title) of the production and the mysterious, airy, and sparse arrangements make this album an overlooked gem in the Ellington catalog. Two of the tracks were cut in 1958 utilizing the full 15-piece orchestra: the slow-moving blues of the title track, where the leader's eerie piano fills answer the statements of the full band, and "Track 360," a dramatic aural representation of a train wreck. The remainder of the CD (minus one other track) was recorded with slightly smaller configurations at two midnight sessions in December of the following year. Ray Nance (the only trumpet because of band restructuring) and especially Johnny Hodges offer the most rewarding solo contributions of the date, many of which stand alongside their best ever. Hodges's magnificently fragile and seductive alto graces "Brown Penny" and handles both delicate and driving passages with aplomb on Billy Strayhorn's "Smada" (with the composer in the piano chair) while Nance belts out the bridge. The band also revisits earlier classics from the Ellington songbook: Nance shows his violin prowess on "C Jam Blues" before growling through "In a Mellotone"; "Sentimental Lady" is in Hodges's capable caress

Blues In Orbit

Music US

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