Duke Ellington - The Chronological Classics Collection part 03 (1924-1937)

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and leader of a jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life.

Born in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. In the 1930s, his orchestra toured Europe several times.

Some of the jazz musicians who were members of Ellington's orchestra, such as saxophonist Johnny Hodges, are considered among the best players in the idiom. Ellington melded them into the best-regarded orchestral unit in the history of jazz. Some members stayed with the orchestra for several decades. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces have become standards. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan", which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz. At the end of the 1930s, Ellington began a nearly thirty-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writing and arranging companion. With Strayhorn, he composed multiple extended compositions, or suites, as well as many short pieces. For a few years at the beginning of Strayhorn's involvement, Ellington's orchestra is considered to have been at its peak, with bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster briefly members. Following a low-profile period (Hodges temporarily left), an appearance by Ellington and his orchestra at the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1956 led to a major revival and regular world tours. Ellington recorded for most American record companies of his era, performed in and scored several films, and composed a handful of stage musicals.

Although a pivotal figure in the history of jazz, in the opinion of Gunther Schuller and Barry Kernfeld, "the most significant composer of the genre", Ellington himself embraced the phrase "beyond category", considering it a liberating principle, and referring to his music as part of the more general category of American Music. Ellington was known for his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, as well as for his eloquence and charisma. He was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Award for music in 1999…

~ wiki

Tracklist CD1 - 1924-1927 (Chronological Classics):

01. Choo Choo (Gotta Hurry Home) (3:16)
02. Rainy Nights (3:27)
03. I'm Gonna Hang Around My Sugar (3:03)
04. Trombone Blues (3:01)
05. Georgia Grind (2:45)
06. Parlor Social Stomp (3:12)
07. (You've Got Those) Wanna-Go-Back-Again Blues (3:22)
08. If You Can't Hold the Man You Love (3:23)
09. Animal Crackers (3:11)
10. Li'l Farina (3:05)
11. East St. Louis Toodle O (2:55)
12. Birmingham Breakdown (2:49)
13. Immigration Blues (3:03)
14. The Creeper (2:52)
15. New Orleans Low-Down (3:01)
16. Song of the Cotton Field (3:03)
17. Birmingham Breakdown (2:41)
18. East St. Louis Toodle-Oo (3:02)
19. East St. Louis Toodle-Oo (3:07)
20. Hop Head (2:59)
21. Down in Our Alley Blues (3:04)
22. Black and Tan Fantasy (3:21)
23. Soliloquy (3:07)


Tracklist CD2 - 1930 (Chronological Classics):

01. When You're Smiling (2:46)
02. Rent Party Blues (3:10)
03. Jungle Blues (3:05)
04. Sing, You Sinners (2:40)
05. St. James Infirmary (2:40)
06. When You're Smiling (3:11)
07. Maori (A Samoan Dance) (3:16)
08. Admiration (3:15)
09. The Mooche (3:25)
10. Ragamuffin Romeo (3:21)
11. East St. Louis Toodle-Oo (3:17)
12. Double Check Stomp (2:58)
13. My Gal Is Good for Nothing But Love (3:02)
14. I Was Made to Love You (3:03)
15. Double Check Stomp (2:59)
16. Accordion Joe (3:05)
17. Cotton Club Stomp (2:54)
18. Sweet Dreams of Love (3:25)
19. Jungle Nights in Harlem (2:57)
20. Sweet Jazz O' Mine (2:44)
21. Shout 'Em, Aunt Tillie (3:02)
22. Sweet Mama (3:04)
23. Hot and Bothered (2:54)


Tracklist CD3 - 1930, Vol.2 (Chronological Classics):

01. Double Check Stomp (3:26)
02. Black and Tan Fantasy (3:12)
03. Ring Dem Bells (2:54)
04. Old Man Blues (3:09)
05. Ring Dem Bells (2:59)
06. Old Man Blues (3:07)
07. Three Little Words (3:08)
08. Hittin' the Bottle (2:58)
09. That Lindy Hop (2:56)
10. You're Lucky to Me (2:57)
11. Memories of You (3:14)
12. Big House Blues (3:05)
13. Rocky Mountain Blues (3:11)
14. Runnin' Wild (2:45)
15. Dreamy Blues (Mood Indigo) (2:54)
16. Home Again Blues (2:57)
17. Wang-Wang Blues (3:03)
18. Ring Dem Bells (2:49)
19. Three Little Words (3:13)
20. Old Man Blues (3:08)
21. Sweet Chariot (2:54)
22. Mood Indigo (3:10)
23. I Can't Realise You Love Me (3:21)


Tracklist CD4 - 1930-1931 (Chronological Classics):

01. I'm So in Love with You (3:01)
02. Rockin' in Rhythm (3:18)
03. Nine Little Miles from Ten-Ten-Tennessee (3:27)
04. I'm So in Love with You (3:36)
05. What Good Am I Without You? (2:57)
06. Blue Again (3:14)
07. When a Black Man's Blue (3:04)
08. What Good Am I Without You? (2:50)
09. When a Black Man's Blue (3:00)
10. Mood Indigo (3:06)
11. Them There Eyes (3:10)
12. Rockin' Chair (3:13)
13. I'm So in Love with You (3:00)
14. Rockin' Chair (3:15)
15. Rockin' in Rhytm (3:02)
16. Twelfth Street Rag (3:00)
17. Rockin' in Rhythm (2:59)
18. The River and Me (3:16)
19. Keep a Song in Your Soul (2:42)
20. Sam and Delilah (3:30)
21. The Peanut Vendor (3:17)
22. Creole Rhapsody - Part I (3:12)
23. Creole Rhapsody - Part II (3:20)


Tracklist CD5 - 1936-1937 (Chronological Classics):

01. Love Is Like a Cigarette (3:06)
02. Kissin' My Baby Good-Night (3:21)
03. Oh Babe! Maybe Someday (2:54)
04. Shoe Shine Boy (3:16)
05. It Was a Sad Night in Harlem (3:09)
06. Trumpet in Spades (Rex's Concerto) (3:12)
07. Yearning for Love (Lawrence's Concerto) (2:59)
08. In a Jam (3:00)
09. Exposition Swing (3:14)
10. Uptown Downbeat (Black Out) (3:25)
11. Rexatious (2:48)
12. Lazy Man's Shuffle (3:01)
13. Clouds in My Heart (3:01)
14. Frolic Sam (3:04)
15. Caravan (3:09)
16. Stompy Jones (2:48)
17. Scattin' at the Cotton Club (3:20)
18. Black Butterfly (3:08)
19. Mood Indigo and Solitude (3:08)
20. Sophisticated Lady and In a Sentimental Mood (3:07)
21. The New Birmingham Breakdown (2:50)
22. Scattin' at the Kit Kat (2:46)
23. I've Got to Be a Rug Cutter (2:37)
24. The New East St. Louis Toodle-O (3:02)


All thanks go to the original releaser