music of the heavens

This set is about as good as it gets. Most of it is Ella with Duke's band, and as you'd expect everything is A1. The arrangements are stellar, the solists complement Ella to perfection. The opening reeds on "I got it bad" make my hair stand on end every time. There is also some beautiful small group stuff, notably with Ben Webster and Stuff Smith, which also swings like hell. (Squatty Roo, Cottontail ...) Finally you get a lot of outtakes of Chelsea Bridge ... OK, it's filler stuff to some, but some of us find it interesting to hear how Duke would fine tune the sound of the band as he went along ...

The packaging sucks (those irritating cardboard sleeves where you can't get the bloody CD's out properly) ... but hey ... jewel cases are cheap ...

Perfectly Imperfect

If you can only afford one Ella songbook set, make Ellington the one. Ella and Duke are perfectly matched. Having her sing with the composer is a unique feature of this set. There is an exuberant spontaneity here which is unmatched by any other songbook album. This mean that there are some imperfections and improvisations, and that's what jazz is. The material is fabulous. The obvious reciprocal adoration and respect of these two legends permeate everything. It is one of the all time great jazz albums ever. Not to be missed.

Rockin' In Rhythm...

I listened to the first track, Rockin' In Rhythm five or six times before going onto the second track; and experienced the delight of discovering something truly good and remarkable from two artists, about whom I thought I knew everything good and remarkable. Back in the 1970's I collected Ella songbooks on vinyl (Gershwin, Porter, Rogers & Hart), but never got around to the Ellington collection. How fortunate that I inadvertently saved this little gem for a rainy day. Listening to it is like discovering Ellington and Ella anew. Except with the added appreciation of a fan. I would never tire of Rockin' In Rhythm, so reliable a source of joy it is...my soul smiles for the privilege to witness this collaboration.