Audio CD review:
Duke Ellington - The Very Best of Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington - The Very Best of Duke Ellington

Band: Duke Ellington Title: The Very Best of Duke Ellington Rating: Release Date: 07 November, 2000 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Take The 'A' Train 2: Warm Valley 3: Cotton Tail 4: Jack The Bear 5: Concerto For Cootie 6: Black And Tan Fantasy 7: East Saint Louis Toodle-O 8: The Mooche 9: Mood Indigo 10: Rockin' In Rhythm 11: Creole Rhapsody, Part 1 12: I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) 13: Don't You Know I Care (Or Don't You Care To Know) 14: Chelsea Bridge 15: Work Song 16: Caravan 17: Perdido 18: Isfahan 19: Blood Count 20: Come Sunday

Customer Reviews Sweet Compilation While the quality of each recording is not perfect, the imprefections add to the ambience associated with listening to the originals on the radio. An excellent variety of Duke Ellington's music which includes both vocals and instrumentals. Inconsistency at its finest However, I have some of these same records in my collection, which sound better and cleaner than the transfers here. This CDs recordings span 40 years, and that should account for some of the difference in sound quality. "Warm Valley" is particularly disappointing; there is substantial swish and crackle throughout which could have been minimized very easily. Some of the work is wonderful, some is awful. I would expect better from BMG. Poor quality of recordings is distracting " "'A' Train" is without vocals on this disk, which was disappointing for me. I sought out this disk as an intro to Duke Ellington's work and to acquire a recording of "Take the 'A' Train. Guess I'll have to look elsewhere for a vocal rendition of that piece. ("I Got It Bad. . . ", "Don't You Know. . . ", "Come Sunday" all have excellent vocals on this disk) Also dissapointing is the quality of many of the recordings. Perhaps this is as good as it gets in terms of what survives today. If so, that's a shame. Hiss and scratches are prominent, particularly in "Mood Indigo" and "Creole Rhapsody. " Also, many of the solo instruments seem overdriven (I might even say too loud for their respective mixes), causing distortion in the early songs on the disk -- "Warm Valley", "Jack The Bear", and "Rockin' In Rhythm" in particular. In general, sound quality does improve as you get deeper into the CD and encounter the more recent recordings. My Duke Ellington knowledge is limited, but if asked if I would recommend this disk as a way of introduction, I would say no. There must be something better out there. . You can see a complete list of all Duke Ellington discography, or go back to the Duke Ellington tabs