DUKE ELLINGTON 'THE VIOLIN SESSION WITH STEPHANE GRAPELLI'' (1963) @ [156k VBR]

DUKE ELLINGTON

''THE VIOLIN SESSION WITH STEPHANE GRAPELLI''

(1963) @

A long underrated and long deleted album/CD, September 2, 2005

By J. Schouweiler "worldimprovseoul" (Seoul, Korea)

Duke made this recording back in early 1963 in Paris. Atlantic (the original label) didn't see fit to release it until 1977 (3 years after Ellington passed away). Let me tell you, it was one of the recordings that got me hooked on jazz. And to add insult to injury, the CD version didn't come out until 2004; what were record executives thinking? Anyway, it's finally here in CD form and it's great for lots of reasons.

For starters, the instrumentation: 2 violins, viola, piano, bass, drums, and with some brass on the 2nd half. Stephane Grappelli, Ray Nance, both on violin, and Svend Assussen on viola, handle the strings with superb ensemble work, accompaniment, and soloing. These guys prove that violins, violas, even cellos can swing with the best of them when they're in the right hands. It's also interesting to hear how each string player swings and improvises, but with a sound distinctive from the other 2.

Duke is right on tops of things directing the whole show from the piano chair. Ernie Shepperd, the bassist, provides solid bass lines and a wonderful syncronized vocal-bass solo, a la Slam Stewart, on Take the A Train, but he's humming and plucking instead of humming and bowing.

Lastly, there are combination of familiar and more obscure Ellington compositions in this collection. For those of you who know that Ellington is the greatest composer and one of the greatest pianists that America ever had, in any genre, this is an essential or near-essential CD to buy. Like all great jazz, it hasn't dated at all.