Jazz - Duke Ellington 39-45 [119 Instrumentals]

Jazz - Duke Ellington 39-45 Master Instrumentals [119 tracks]



The U.S. has put Duke Ellington on a postage stamp but its record companies, as usual, have done a poor job of making available his music.



As copyrights expire responsible people have been able to provide good collections. I bought in Europe a 40 CD ?Complete works from 1924-1947?, on the History label. It is perhaps the only complete collection for 1924-47. It also has the advantage that it is master takes which are not slowed down by alternates and false starts.



The complete RCA collection is good for the great year 1940 if you do not mind interruptions by alternate takes. However Ellington did not record for RCA until the end of 1939, and by 1942 he was prevented from recording for RCA by the incredibly vicious American recording strike. Thus the collection provided here is more complete in the beginning and in the end than the RCA collection.



I do not care for most of the Ellington vocal tracks. In fact I suspect they were a factor in keeping Ellington less popular than some other bands. Anyway I have compiled here an mp3 set, from 1939 to 45, which leaves out most of the vocal numbers.