Duke At Fargo 1940 Special 60th Anniversary Editio

Includes 36-page booklet.
Personnel: Duke Ellington (piano); Ray Nance (vocals, trumpet, violin); Ivie Anderson, Herb Jeffries (vocals); Barney Bigard (soprano & alto saxophones, clarinet); Otto Hardwicke (alto saxophone, clarinet); Ben Webster (tenor saxophone, clarinet); Harry Carney (baritone saxophone, clarinet); Wallace Jones (trumpet); Rex Stewart (cornet); Joseph Nanton, Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown (trombone); Fred Guy (guitar); Jimmy Blanton (bass); Sonny Greer (drums).
Recorded live in Fargo, North Dakota on November 7, 1940.
Many jazz critics and Ellington fans and scholars consider his 1940-1943 era to be his best period. Legendary bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor sax king Ben Webster were in the band, and the team of Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (Duke's right-hand man: pianist, composer and arranger of such classics as "Take the 'A' Train") was turning out class tunes at an amazing rate. (In under a year, the pair penned over 30 compositions.) One night in Fargo, some devoted fans asked the Duke and his management if they could record a concert--the rest, as they say, is history.
Thanks to these documentarians and their use of professional equipment, the concert was preserved in very good sound. The band is in fine form, and the set lists include both Ducal hits/classics ("Mood Indigo," "Cotton Tail"), pop/jazz standards ("Stardust," "Honeysuckle Rose") and obscure Ellington gems ("Warm Valley," "Conga Brava"). This 2-CD set is more for the hard-core Ellington fan--casual fans are urged to pick up the RCA-Victor recordings, available in various collections on the BMG label.