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Hefti arrangements, night after night
when I worked as a cigarette girl at
Birdland. I still remember every
note.” —Carla Bley
“The grammar of big band jazz. The
absolute perfection.”—Mathias Rüegg
“Basie is Mr. Swing. Each sideman
is a star all on his own, whether it be
Joe Newman, ‘Lockjaw’ Davis or
just the top sound in the sax section
that tells you it’s Marshall Royal.”
—John Burnett
6 Duke Ellington
… And His Mother
Called Him Bill (RCA 1967)
“This is special not only for the great
Strayhorn compositions but also for
the fact that it was recorded three
months after Strayhorn’s death, and
you can hear mourning for the loss
of a great friend in the
performances.” —Bob Nieske
“It is so swinging and alive that I
feel like I am in the studio with them
every time I hear it. Shut your eyes
and you can see the floor tiles of the
studio and smell the coffee brewing
in the studio lounge.” —Matt Wilson
“It’s Johnny Hodges’ last recording,
and he seems to be playing his own
eulogy as well as Strayhorn’s—
amazing!” —Roy Nathanson
“I loved the band sound, and realized
later that part of my developing a
conception as a vocalist with a high
register came from hearing trumpeters
like Cootie Williams and
Cat Anderson.” —Judi Silvano
“The way Johnny Hodges played,
whew! Johnny would play a melody
like a lead voice but so expressive
within a band. It made you feel like
he was playing with just a rhythm
section. Those kinds of things really
taught me a lot about how to it in
with a larger ensemble and try to
get an intimacy within it.”
—Joe Lovano
7 Count Basie
Chairman Of The Board
(Roullette, 1958)
“This record just makes me happy.
The writers are great: Frank Foster,
Thad Jones, Frank Wess and Ernie
Wilkins. The band swings so hard,
the dynamic contrasts are amazing,
and then, of course, there is Sonny
Payne’s drumming.” —Dave Rivello
42 DOWNBEAT April 2010
Count Basie (left) & Duke Ellington
“It just doesn’t get groovier than the
shout chorus to ‘Blues In Hoss’
Flat.’” —Jeremy Pelt
“Phenomenal swing and attitude is
the order of the day for this
consummate album. Marshall
Royal, Snooky Young and Sonny
Payne set such strong examples for
how the music will sound and be
interpreted.” —Jim Ketch
“I first heard this album when I was
12 or 13, and it just knocked me “The biggest reason I love this CD
out. It reminded me of the Martin is the feel and energy that was
Luther King Choir at Ebenezer captured—and it still sounds so
Baptist Church where I grew up.” spirited today. What happened was
—Scotty Barnhart magical, and Sam Woodyard and
Jimmy Woode were totally locked
“‘Blues In Hoss’ Flat’ grabbed me. and had such a special sound
The band was swinging so hard, I together over the five or so years
had to get up and dance around. I they played together with Ellington.
feel the same way about The This recording embodies a high level
Complete Atomic Mr. Basie.” of emotional exchange between the
—Jeff Hamilton players and the audience, with
some great composing captured as
well.” —Terri Lyne Carrington
8 Duke Ellington
Ellington At Newport
(Columbia, 1956)
“Few recordings can still send chills
up my spine after listening to them
for 30 years, but when those low
clarinets come in after Paul
Gonsalves’ solo on ‘Diminuendo
And Crescendo In Blue,’ I still get
goosebumps. By the time the last
chorus is played and Cat Anderson
is screaming over the top, I’m gone.
And I like the first side even more.”
—Gary Smulyan
“The groove of the entire
performance floors me. The cats are
playing so hard and clean! The
Maestro is truly at the helm, and
Paul Gonsalves ... wow!”
—Kahil El’Zabar
“I love a near-riot breaking out at an
outdoor big band gig. I love to feel
the steam pressure build up from
the top of the set all the way to its
freak-out pinnacle to its all-toonecessary
encore-forced
denouement.” —Kurt Elling
“A jewel. The band expresses the
whole mode and mood of the world
at that time. Music tells a story.”
—Marcus Belgrave
“Paul Gonsalves on ‘Diminuendo’ is
astonishing. My high school band
went to Europe in the summer of
my freshman year and,
unfortunately for me, once we got
to Europe I had to have my
appendix removed. I missed most
of the tour but sat in that hospital
bed listening to that track over and
over again. I remember feeling the
energy of the band and of the
audience on the recording and just
loving how good it all was.”
—Donny McCaslin
9 Duke Ellington
The Far East Suite (Bluebird,1966)
“This swings hard and smooth,
displays all the beautiful melodies
DOWNBEAT ARCHIVES
and textures of early Ellington and
has a very contemporary feel due to
the younger rhythm section players
and the hi-fi recording.”
—Russ Gershon
“Ellington is in a more reflective and
introverted mood here, and I love it.
The piano is a bit more prominent
than on most of his recordings. The
music is so varied emotionally,
dynamically, harmonically and in
timbre that listening to the whole
album is a very exciting voyage
through human feelings.”
—Pedro Giraudo
“This has some of the highest level
of writing for big band one could
hope to attain, and Jimmy
Hamilton’s clarinet playing never
ceases to inspire me.”
—Ken Peplowski
“I chose this record because of its
completeness, mood and
compositional approach. Although
there were two compositions pulled
from other material—Billy
Strayhorn’s ‘Isfahan’ and Duke
Ellington’s ‘Ad-Lib On Nippon’—this
is a perfect example of how jazz
composition can capture the beauty
and essence of other cultures
without losing its singular American
character rooted in the blues.”
—Marcus Shelby
“‘The Suite’ contains moments of
truly superb orchestration, and the
band’s performance—especially
the interplay between bassist John
Lamb and drummer Rufus Jones—
was simply breathtaking and totally
committed to Duke’s vision.”
—Russ Little
10 Duke Ellington
Never No Lament—
The Blanton-Webster Band
(RCA, 1940–’42)
“A peak for Duke, with Ben
Webster, Jimmy Blanton, Barney
Bigard, Juan Tizol; not to mention
that Billy Strayhorn was writing for
the band. Required listening.”
—Paul Carlon
“Ellington’s most productive period
and maybe the greatest big band
ever.” —David Berger
“Some people call this the Webster-
Blanton band, but I call it the Cootie-
Rex band. Every piece is a 3-minute
magical journey into sound, melody,