The Ellington Decades, as Documented by RCA

**** DUKE ELLINGTON

“The Duke Ellington

Centennial Edition”

RCA Victor

This magnificent, 24-CD boxed set of Ellingtonia, released Tuesday, provides an extraordinary centerpiece for the great composer-bandleader’s 100th birthday celebration. It does not, by any means, encompass the complete Ellington recording career, but it reaches across the entire six decades in which his music was preserved for posterity. (In the ‘50s, he was signed to Columbia and Capitol, and RCA’s only release was the recording of a 1952 Seattle concert.)

As such, it is an astonishing collection, despite a suggested retail price of $407.52, which will put it beyond the reach of many jazz fans. RCA, in fact, has announced that only 10,000 sets will be released, clearly creating an instant collectors’ item. (RCA is also releasing a single-CD version, “Best of the Duke Ellington Centennial Edition,” with 18 selections.) Still, to put it in context, imagine if it were possible to have a set of recordings of Bach’s cantatas, conducted by the composer with his choir in Leipzig’s Church of St. Thomas. Or Mozart’s performances of his piano concertos, complete with his spontaneous cadenzas. In essence, that’s comparably what we have in this collection--one of the great musical figures of the 20th century, performing his own music over virtually the entire course of his extensive career.

The comparisons to Bach, Mozart and, for that matter, to Haydn, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin and numerous other pre-20th century composers, are relevant in another way. Ellington was one of the few major composers in this century who either wrote for a regular ensemble of musicians or consistently performed his own music (in his case, of course, he did both). And his insistence upon maintaining an orchestra throughout his entire career--despite the financial cost--was a creative echo of eras in which composers could write for performers whose work they knew well, creating definitive versions of their music, often functioning as conductors or soloists as well.

The results are plain to hear, as this collection gradually moves from the recordings of the late ‘20s (the first Ellington RCA effort was an accompaniment for singer Evelyn Preer on Jan. 10, 1927) through the decades to his final performances, recorded in 1973 at the close of Ellington’s last European tour.

Almost from the beginning, one can detect Ellington’s sensitivity to his individual players, to the difference that accrued when, say, the lead trumpet part was played by Cootie Williams instead of Rex Stewart. Or the remarkable timbres that resulted from the use of varying mutes by trumpeter Bubber Miley and trombonist Joe “Tricky Sam” Nanton. Or Ellington’s awareness of the unique use that could be made of Harry Carney’s big, robust baritone saxophone sound--often employed as a melody instrument within the section instead of, as was more typical with other bands, strictly as a low voice anchoring the harmonies.

Most of these elements, along with many of the long-term Ellington sidemen, were in place by the very early ‘30s, at which point such classics as “Black and Tan Fantasy,” “Creole Love Call,” “East St. Louis Toodle-oo,” “Mood Indigo” and “The Mooche” had already been recorded. And what is immediately obvious is that, although there were important changes over the years, the Ellington sound--strikingly present almost from the beginning--retained its personal identity throughout the various eras.

The highlights--at least those recorded for RCA--are all here, with alternate takes and a bounty of previously unreleased (or not domestically available) material. And there’s no denying the appeal of the most classic performances. But there’s equal pleasure in experiencing the smaller details of the Ellington career: in observing the developmental changes that took place in performances over the years of, for example, “Mood Indigo”; and in hearing the way he dealt with the need to perform pop tunes such as “I Must Have That Man,” “Diga Diga Do” and “Mississippi.”

Finally, there is the fascination of experiencing the sacred music that preoccupied the last years of his life, the first time all three of his sacred music concerts have been released in the same compilation.

And that’s only a small overview of the hours of Ellingtonia available to anyone willing to go for the collection’s high ticket price. (There is, in addition, a 120-page booklet with the complete recording data as well as illuminating historical essays by Dan Morgenstern, Steven Lasker, Brain Preistley and Stanley Dance.) One can only hope that, once this limited edition is depleted, RCA will create a somewhat more streamlined, perhaps less comprehensive (in terms of, say, alternate takes and obscure material) but equally compelling collection at a price that will make it accessible to the millions of Ellington fans around the world.

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