Quote:
Originally posted by FCJ
Sonny Greer has some drum set, doesn't he? |
It was almost a month ago that Duke Ellington would've turned 104. Right now I'm listening to a vinyl Columbia Masterworks "Lp",
Masterpieces By Ellington, ML 4418 (copyrighted 1951). (I already have this title on a Sony Music France CD.) This album marked the last studio recording session for Sonny Greer as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra [for the record, Sonny Greer (died 1982) actually outlived the Duke (died 1974)], having been recorded on 18 December 1950. It also marked the last studio session for Johnny Hodges and Lawrence Brown as members of the Ellington orchestra before they formed the Johnny Hodges Orchestra - but when the latter orchestra struggled and then disbanded, Johnny Hodges rejoined The Duke in late 1955, just in time for the Ellington band's triumph at Newport in July 1956 (Lawrence Brown would rejoin in 1959 for a few years).
This album was doubly precious, for the fact that it was Sonny Greer's only official Ellington recording in Hi-Fi (that is, using "modern" high-speed magnetic tape rather than acetate discs).
Judging from the stamper numbers on the vinyl [and surprisingly, Columbia had used the designation XLP (three capital letters) rather than the x"Lp" designation on the label back in 1951 - I had always thought that all pre-1964 labels had x"Lp" in their matrix numbers (the designation x"Lp" was used on Columbia 12-inch "Lp" labels between 1952 and 1964, before CBS came to its senses and reverted to the three capital letters in mid-1964)], and by the blue Columbia Masterworks label with silver printing (which predates the gray "6-eye" Columbia Masterworks label), I'd say that this copy was pressed sometime between 1953 and 1955. (Columbia in 1956 reissued this album on the regular, "non-Masterworks" label with the record catalogue number CL 825.)
The sound quality of this album (on vinyl), once I got past the clicks and pops (relatively minor, considering the age of this particular piece of vinyl), was exceptional for a recording that's more than 50 years old! In fact, early Masterworks pressings of this album beat the crap out of the French-import CD reissue - hands down! The CD sounds compressed in comparison.
Another old Ellington album on Columbia Masterworks that I'm waiting for is
Ellington Uptown (ML 4639), recorded between 7 December 1951 and 8 December 1952 (the drummer with the Ellington band by that time was Louis Bellson, just before he rejoined Harry James's orchestra, which he had left in early 1951 to join The Duke), and released in early 1953. This one also has a "pre-6-eye" blue Masterworks label with silver printing - but most extant copies of this classic "Lp" have the later "6-eye" gray Masterworks label. (By the way, Columbia had begun to phase in the "6-eye" label in mid-1955, though the older label continued to be used into early 1956.) As good as
Masterpieces By Ellington sounded, I will love
Ellington Uptown even more - sonics-wise.
