Audio CD review:
Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington - The Great Summit: The Complete Sessions

Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington - The Great Summit: The Complete Sessions

Band: Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington Title: The Great Summit: The Complete Sessions Rating: Release Date: 01 August, 2000 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Duke's Place 2: I'm Just A Lucky So And So 3: Cottontail 4: Mood Indigo 5: Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me 6: The Beautiful American 7: Black And Tan Fantasy 8: Drop Me Off In Harlem 9: The Mooche 10: In A Mellow Tone 11: It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) 12: Solitude 13: Don't Get Around Much Anymore 14: I'm Beginning To See The Light 15: Just Squeeze Me 16: I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) 17: Azalea 18: In A Mellow Tone (Warm-Up/Take One - Complete Take) 19: I'm Beginning To See The Light (Take One - False Start/Take Four - Two False Starts/Take Five... 20: Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me (Take One - Rehearsal, Working Out Arrangement/Take Two... 21: Don't Get Around Much Anymore (Take Two - Breakdown/Take Three - Breakdown/Take Four - Discussion... 22: Duke's Place (Take Five - Lucky Roberts Intro, Complete Take) 23: Drop Me Off In Harlem (Take Two - Complete Take) 24: I'm Just A Lucky So And So (Conversation/Take One - False Start/Take Two - Complete Take... 25: Azalea (Take Eight - Discussion, False Start/Take Nine - False Start/Take Ten - Complete In Two... 26: Black And Tan Fantasy (Take Three - False Start/Conversation Leading To Take Four/Take Five... 27: Band Discussion On Cottontail

Editoral Review On its own, though, The Great Summit needs no later chapters to justify its celebrated standing in jazz annals. For starters, The Great Summit produced not only itself, both in a long-valued one-CD set and now this 2-CD Complete Sessions, but also a later summit, Count Basie and Duke Ellington's tandem showdown, First Time. This was and is terrifically important music, Ellington in grand form between recording the Paris Blues soundtrack and cutting ace sessions like Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins and Duke Ellington & John Coltrane in late 1962. For his part, Armstrong was on leave, as well, resting up between ceaseless tours as a bona fide jazz superstar and veteran. So Ellington and Armstrong join hands, backed by the latter's band (Trummy Young on trombone, Barney Bigard on clarinet, Mort Herbert on bass, and Danny Barcelona on drums), tackling 17 of Duke's tunes. Armstrong's sweet, rolling vocal growl gives the tunes endless hugs, just as his band both cuts plump solos and then backs way off so Ellington can throw down alternately swinging and unapologetically modernist solos himself. What distinguishes this two-CD set from the originally issued, one-CD Complete Session is the second disc, The Making of the Great Summit. What's that worth? Well, it's a fan's dream, with studio chatter, with myriad false starts and several alternate complete takes ("In a Mellow Tone," "Duke's Place," and "Drop Me Off in Harlem"). Pure gold if you love Duke and Louis separately--unalloyed platinum if you love them (or just the thought of them) together. --Andrew Bartlett .. You can see a complete list of all Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington discography, or go back to the Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington tabs