TopTenREVIEWS presents the music career and reviews of Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
CAREER SPAN:
Decade
Album Score
# Albums
Ratings and rankings are based on all available critic reviews for each album.
Overall Band Score:
2.4556
Duke Ellington Album Rankings
1
Although some historians have characterized the early '50s as Duke Ellington's "off period" (due to the defection of alto starJohnny Hodges), in reality his 1951-1952 orchestra could hold its own agai
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2
Although generally not as celebrated as his Victor recordings of the same period, Duke Ellington's performances for OKeh (late acquired by Columbia) are among the best of the period, featuring distinc
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3
In the '30s, Ellington started recording prolifically with small groups taken from his big band.
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4
This latest compilation of some of Ellington's most popular, enduring, and important RCA Victor sides from a period of 40 years (October 26, 1927, to August 30, 1967) consists of 18 tracks, drawn from
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5
WhenBilly Strayhorndied of cancer in 1967, Duke Ellington was devastated. His closest friend and arranger had left his life full of music and memories.
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6
This attractive three-CD set contains the master takes of all 66 selections recorded byDuke Ellington's Orchestraduring what many historians consider its peak period.
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7
This set came about, in part, as a result of Ellington's signing toFrank Sinatra's Reprise label in November 1962, with the ending of his exclusive contract to Columbia.
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8
The death, midway through the sessions, of legendary Ellington altoist Johnny Hodges (who wails his swan song here on "Blues For New Orleans") didn't halt this 1970 tribute to the Crescent C
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9
This triple-CD set fills in some important holes around Duke Ellington's '40s RCA-Victor output.
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10
The last entry in a ten-volume set of mostly unreleased studio and live recordings from Duke Ellington's personal collection,Private Collection, Vol.
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11
Once Duke Ellington's complete RCA/Victor recordings were released on the 24-disc box set in 1999, it meant that it was only a matter of time before the cream of that crop was released in individual s
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12
Unlike some labels, who chose to celebrate Duke Ellington's centennial with lavish sets of his complete recordings for a label, Columbia/Legacy decided to keep things relatively simple.
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13
Blues in Orbitlacks the intellectual cachet of the suites and concept pieces that loomed large in Ellington's recordings of this period, but it's an album worth tracking down, if only to hear the band
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14
By the time of Duke Ellington's engagement to write and record the music forOtto Preminger'sAnatomy of a Murder, he was an elder statesman of jazz.
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15
I do not envy the compiler responsible for assembling this collection.
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17
Chris Lee has one of the most distinctive voices in indie rock, a delicate, soulful croon that recalls Jeff Buckley, minus Buckley's smoky mystique.
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19
The 1999 reissue of this album marks a total reconstruction and rethinking of the original LP, and such a complete break from the original album that its story could fill a book.
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20
Duke Ellington could have been forgiven if, by the time he was 67, he had gradually lost his creative desire not to mention his writing skills.
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21
This album, Duke Ellington's revised version of his formerly 50-minute long "Black, Brown and Beige," has always been a bit of a disappointment.
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22
A most unusual Duke Ellington record, two selections feature nine symphonic percussionists on tympani, vibes, marimbas and xylophones.
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23
The general outlook on Ellington's two-year stay at Capitol Records is that they were a series of missed opportunities, the label being unwilling to let him do much more than pop-oriented singles and
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24
Collaborative albums such as this one always have been something of a stunt on the part of the record label, with the artists themselves usually stuck with too little time to work out something that
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26
Mood Indigo and Beyond: The Magic of Duke Ellington If you know anyone who still harbours doubts about Duke Ellington's pre-eminence as composer and band-leader then tie them to a chair and make them
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27
This RCA CD reissue contains 19 Duke Ellington recordings from 1940-42 and 1945-46 and serves as a good introduction to Ellington's music of that era although veteran collectors will already have the
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28
This CD is a straight reissue of an RCA album from the early '60s.
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31
The Brassiest Ellington The core of this CD was issued as a vinyl LP named in parallel with Elington's piano trio masterpiece Piano in the Foreground .
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34
This volume of Capitol/EMI's Legends Of The 20th Century profiles Duke Ellington, providing an overview of his four-decade career with tracks like "Satin Doll," "Prelude To A Kiss," "Black And Tan Fa
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35
It took until 1976 before these three extended works ("The Queen's Suite," "The Goutelas Suite" and "The Uwis Suite") were released and their obscurity is somewhat deserved.
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36
The Encore Collection: The Strayhorn Touch is a budget-line collection that contains ten Billy Strayhorn-penned songs associated with Duke Ellington, all taken from the RCA/BMG vaults.
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48
An entertaining overview of some of Duke Ellington's most popular material, 16 Most Requested Songs has some fine music, but it is too incomplete to even be a thorough introduction to his career.
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52
This single CD reissues all of the contents of the original United Artists double LP.
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54
This unusual set only has four Duke Ellington compositions among the 11 songs.
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