Well, I got my wish--hot on the heels of the first volume, here is a second Bandcamp compilation of Sun Ra playing Duke Ellington (and Billy Strayhorn, of course) compositions. Like Ellingtonia Vol. 1, Vol. 2 is a mixture of previously released studio tracks and a slew of unreleased gems--live songs, home recordings, and rehearsals. As a compilation, it is wildly successful.
The most primitive recording is a 1950s home tape of Ra playing "Flamingo" on piano and Solovox. It's beautiful. We also get the full-fledged studio version of "Flamingo" from the underrated album The Other Side of the Sun. "Caravan" is a wonderful little version recorded at the Pershing Ballroom in 1958 (where is the rest of this show and why are they keeping it from us?). Ra plays the lead on piano and (maybe?) clavioline, and then there's a heavily dance-oriented percussion interlude. "Sophisticated Lady" is another 1951 duet with bassist Wilbur Ware (again: is there more from this session?).
John Gilmore is featured heavily, which makes the set extra special. "In a Sentimental Mood," a rehearsal piece with Ra on organ, has a nice Gilmore solo but it's a bit recessed--wish it were louder. No problems with Gilmore's volume on "Satin Doll," which is taken at a brisk, swinging pace that's similar in tempo and feel to Ra's arrangements for "Body and Soul." Gilmore turns in a brilliant solo here, starting off with a quote from "I'm Beginning to See the Light" (I feel like maybe Paul Gonsalves did the same thing at one time or another?). "Happy as the Day Is Long" is a snappy Fletcher Henderson-style jump arrangement featuring another nice Gilmore solo.
"Prelude to a Kiss" is presented as it usually was, with a long keyboard solo and a feature slot for Marshall Allen's acerbic alto. There's a nice solo piano rendition of "Take the 'A' Train" from 1977 that's similar to Ra's other piano versions from that year (in particular, WKCR and Venice). I wish the full exact dates could have been given for the live cuts--surely they have them for most pieces here (I understand that the Pershing 1958 exact date may be missing), but only the years are given. For the record, here's what I was able to pin down: "Solitude" (1982-06-24), "Happy as the Day Is Long" (1984-03-24), "Prelude to a Kiss" (1986-06-24), and "Take the 'A' Train" (vocal version) (1987-05-10).
I would quibble with the inclusion of the vocal version of "'A" Train"--surely there are more interesting Arkestra renditions out there (beyond, of course, the sublime version on Live at Montreux)--but maybe that just indicates there are more volumes to come. One can only hope.
Eternal Myth Revealed lists the Pershing Ballroom recording as 8-15-1958, presuming that this is from the same show. The two New York 1987 cuts are on the bootleg CD "Duke Ellington's Sound of Space" (significantly cleaned up for Ellingtonia Vol 2). The CD lists an inaccurate show date (2-17-1987) at the Bottom Line (there's a different show that date in Earthly Recordings and it doesn't match the Bottom Line's listings). No idea what the real provenance of that recording is.
ReplyDeleteThanks for those details! I'd forgotten about that Pershing date--you're right, it probably is from the same show.
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