Duke Ellington - The Reprise Studio Recordings (Mosaic, 1999)

I came in to jazz rather late. Unless my memory is failing me, it was some time earlier in this decade that I stumbled on 'Kind of Blue' and thought about giving it a go. I loved it. Sublime, indulgent, soothing and not at all like the kind of 'chill out' crap that everyone in the UK was loving at the time (it has John Coltrane on it, ffs). So, my ears were suddenly opened up to the sea of possibilities that jazz had to offer right from the kick-off this wonderful album had given me. I have to admit my new love of jazz back then became a bit Miles-heavy at first, particularly after I bought 'Bitches Brew' and my soul was sold on his jazz-rock-metal-funk-Stockhausen vibe from 1968-1975. The sounds were draining my senses like no other music I had heard since discovering The Velvet Underground. How on earth had I missed this music all this time? But looking back, I hadn't really opened up my ears at all because Miles was it and I didn't stray much beyond his canon. Sure I dallied with Coltrane a little but aside from 'A Love Supreme', 'Favourite Things' and 'Africa/Brass', he didn't float my boat despite his gilt-edged association with the man.

However, there were two jazz purchases I did make around this time that weren't Miles and have stayed with me all this time: two of Columbia's idiosyncratic 'Greatest Hits' jazz series of the late 60s - Theophilus Monk and Duke Ellington (I say idiosyncratic as the idea of jazz having chart 'hits' seems utterly ludicrous, even now). Monk's was superb, even fun (there's just something about the way he 'plays' with his piano that makes you think he's having a ball) but the Duke one was something else. Whereas most post-war jazz focuses on using the melody to go off on one, Duke was all about the melody and what he was going to do with it. Ok, so his big band sound was much easier to enjoy in comparison with Miles' 'Dark Magus' (for example) but it's on a different plateau to the trumpet man's heavy metal effort from 1974. This was jazz as purist dance music circa 1933. Shortly afterwards I got 'Black, Brown & Beige' his gospel collaboration with Mahalia Jackson from 1958. Being a bit religious myself in short doses, I found the sweeping, pounding, swaying melodies rather moving as a paean to God and the nobility of human suffering. A sublime LP I would recommend to anyone wanting to hear the man and his orchestra at full compositional tilt outside of straight dance music.

And so to 'The Complete Reprise Recordings'. After a reasonable review in MOJO a few years back, I was delighted to discover this 5 CD box set in the local library recently. As the excellent booklet accompanying the set explains, the set covers the period 1962-1965 when he was signed to the Reprise label by no less than Sinatra himself. Keen to not just have him as a recording artiste but as a director of all jazz content on label for the foreseeable future. High praise indeed for a man with, then, nearly 40 years of innovation behind him. However, his tenure there didn't quite live up to its prestigious opening billing and over these five CDs it's quite easy to see why.

Disc 1 opens with sessions for the 'Will the Big Bands Ever Come Back?', a reflective look back at his heyday of 20 or 30 years before, with particular focus on some songs he didn't get to record. Sure, it's great hearing the band blast through Cab Calloway's old party favourite 'Minnie The Moocher' or swoon through 'I'm Getting Sentimental Over You' but much of the material on this first disc sound like Duke struggling to breathe new life into the periphery of the era's repertoire. Perhaps if Duke had recorded these back in '29 or '36, they would have sounded fresh, lively and fantastic but in 1962 (and now in 2009), they just sound very samey. Not a good start for this box set.

Disc 2 does start to reveal some of the genius behind the man's compositional standing today ikn the form of the complex percussive heavy sounds of the 'Afro Bossa' album. A move away from its predecessor's nostalgia (although - ironically - it was released after this album), its delicious, funky lounge feel sounds more contemporary than a lot of what his peer group were doing then. 'Volupte', 'Limbo Jazz', 'Tigress' and 'Angu' are the standout tracks here.

Disc 3 is something I really didn't get into much with one exception. The caterwauling sounds of the lead instrument on 'Jazz Violin Session' drove me to despair. The violin (as opposed to the fiddle) really doesn't work as a lead instrument for a jazz band or group: it's too high pitched and therefore too whiny sounding (especially when the soloist goes off on one). I know many love the 'Hot Club' antics of the late Stephane Grapelli but no, it does absolutely nothing for me. And on this disc there's just too much of this dirgey nonsense. The exception? The 'Night Creature' suite. The big widescreen sound of this piece (he added strings) really gives a bombasting edge to the simmering, slithering gait of a denizen of the night. Wonderful.

Disc 4 is the 'Pop' disc. During the mid 60s Duke cut two albums ('Ellington '65' and 'Ellington '66') covering some of the big songs of the day. Despite its derring-do to try to shape the new sounds of the 60s into Ellingtonia, these albums were widely criticized at the time as being a waste of his talent. One can see where the critics are coming from with really weak versions of contemporaries like 'Blowing In The Wind, 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand', 'I Left My Heart In San Fransisco' and 'People'. Only his take on The Beatles' 'All My Loving' stands out from the 'beat' songs tried here as being a genuinely unique cover. With all the best will in the world to try and mould them into his own, they just don't suit Ellington at all. However, where he does succeed on these sessions is with the modern tracks that are most akin to his M.O.: 'Hello Dolly', 'Call Me Irresponsible', 'Fly Me To The Moon' and 'Stranger On The Shore'. The re-arrangements on these tracks are superb but (and I have to agree with contemporary critics here) one has to wonder why he agreed to do these 'pop' covers when it only delayed yet more original work from the man.

The saving grace of this mixed bag of a box set is its final disc. Now, I know you will think I am completely mad when I suggest that 'Duke Ellington Plays With The Original Motion Picture Score of Walt Disney's Mary Poppins' is the highlight of this set, but please bear with me. Put aside any dislike of the movie and the mawkishness of Disney at its worst and just listen. Of all the albums compiled in this box, this is the most fully-realised. Again he may have been delaying that return to original composition but this is the best case he could ever make for his arranging skills during this less-than-original time. 'Feed The Birds' with its swooping clarinet is sublime, 'Step In Time' strolls along in striking strident minimal time, 'A Spoonful of Sugar' is re-cast as a pumping fast-blues number and 'Supercalifragalisticexpealidocious' is a hurricane riot. The whole album is a joy and redeems the man from this less than satisfying period of his creative life.

The box set stops at 1965 with the studio portions of 'Concert In The Virgin Islands' (only a handful of disappointing tracks not worth dwelling on) and yet - disappointingly for this reviewer - ignores a collaboration with his boss on 'Francis A. & Edward K' from 1967. As I've alluded to above this is a real mish-mash of a compilation that, although pretty thorough for his time at Reprise, also shows why little of this period is celebrated amongst even casual critics of the man and his music. It wasn't until he joined RCA the following year that this seemingly stale period came to an end with the now classic 'Far East Suite' album. Ellington allegedly had some disagreements with Reprise over Sinatra 'borrowing' key members of his band and what his role really was at the label, so perhaps these tensions may had bled through and stifled any sought-after creativity. Whatever may have gone on, it did not lead to the sort of incredible music his band had re-emerged with a decade before. So, there are some gems here but few and far between. This is one for the Duke aficionados out there looking to microscopically examine this 'lost' period but not for the Duke-curious fan like myself looking to expand his or her knowledge. In the meantime, Hunt out '..Mary Poppins' instead!

NRS Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5.

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Coming soon:

The Cellar Door Sessions - Miles Davis (Sony)
No Line On The Horizon - U2 (Mercury/Universal)
Revolution (RM Take 20) - The Beatles (Unissued - author's own copy)

Admin: Sorry, I've been a bit tardy keeping this blog active. Although I have a part-time job, I also study two courses and have to keep this house in order. I am uber-busy but I'll keep trying to throw in a review when I can. Hopefully either one a week or one every two weeks. Thanks for your persistence and patience