Search - Jazz Icons: Duke Ellington Live in '58 on DVD

Best Duke concert dvd ever!!

BevRich | St. Louis | 09/13/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is possibly the best Duke Ellington's Orchestra concert on DVD (and I buy every Duke dvd I see) Paul Gonsalve's performance on "Diminuendo In Blue & Crescendo In Blue" is worth the price of the DVD alone. Not only is he playing his heart out, the rest of the band is obviously enjoying it. Other great solo performances includes Johnny Hodges's "All of Me" and "Things Ain't What They Used To Be", Shorty Baker and Ray Nance on "Mr. Gentle & Mr. Cool" & Sam Woodyard's "Hi Fi Fo-Fum". I can go on and on just describing how wonderful this concert is.



I highly recommend this one!"

A nearly complete concert by an all-star band

James A. Vedda | Alexandria, VA USA | 02/23/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Jazz Icons series released 16 videos through 2007, each featuring a different jazz artist. This is the fifth one that I've acquired, and so far they've all been great. Somebody should give these people an award for their efforts to preserve American culture by searching international video archives.

Video quality is unavoidably limited by what's found in those archives, in this case a November 1958 concert in Amsterdam that was recorded for TV broadcast. The black & white video is very grainy and lacks adequate contrast in some scenes. The audio is mono, but the sound quality excellent - clear and well balanced.

The show starts out slow and mellow, but the energy level picks up when they get to "Rockin' in Rhythm." The program includes several well-known Ellington standards, such as "Black and Tan Fantasy," "Creole Love Call," "Sophisticated Lady" (featuring, of course, the baritone sax of Harry Carney), "Things Ain't What They Used To Be" (as a vehicle for alto sax star Johnny Hodges), "Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue" (with tenor man Paul Gonsalves recreating the excitement of the classic Newport 1956 recording), and a 10-song Ellington medley. Noticeably absent is "Take the A Train."

A couple of my favorite moments: a young but already accomplished Clark Terry featured on trumpet in "Harlem Air Shaft" and a stoic but musically expressive Johnny Hodges working his magic on "All of Me." Also enjoyable are the finishing touches that Cat Anderson adds to some of the arrangements as he ventures into a frequency range that the trumpet was never intended to reach.

The package includes an informative 24-page booklet offering a detailed history of this concert tour and other interesting anecdotes about Ellington and his sidemen. One of the things we learn from these notes is that the concert video was done near the end of a grueling several weeks for the band, doing shows in different cities almost every night. That explains why many in the band look tired in this performance. But remarkably, they don't sound tired, and that's what is important.

Fans of Ellington, and classic big bands in general, should pick this up without hesitation, despite the inescapable limitations of half-century old video."

Jazz icons duke ellington live in 58

John T | Queensland, Australia | 01/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Duke Ellington: piano, Jimmy Woode: bass, Sam Woodyard: drums

Johnny Hodges: alto sax

Russell Procope: alto sax, clarinet

Paul Gonsalves: tenor sax

Jimmy Hamilton: tenor sax, clarinet

Harry Carney: baritone sax, bass clarinet

Clark Terry, Shorty Baker, and Cat Anderson: trumpet

Ray Nance: trumpet, violin

Quentin Jackson and Britt Woodman: trombone

John Sanders: valve trombone

Ozzie Bailey: vocal.

With good sound, good black and white images, and expert camera work this DVD re creates the experience of being at the concert even down to ligering at the end to watch the musicians pack up and leave.

The entire concert isn't there but there's plenty that is and, as you'd expect, it's great stuff."

A Dream Come True

Robert Barker | Burbank, CA | 10/05/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To have a complete concert of Duke Ellington when the band was still at the height of its powers is a dream come true. A group of us also marveled at the amazing sound on my 5 speaker home theater, and the concert is from 1958! I love the 'Reeling in the Years' production group and hope they keep on finding these wonderful rarities."