DUKE ELLINGTON BLUES IN ORBIT
Label: Columbia
Original Released: 1960
CD Released : 2004
Format: Flac



Teo Macero's first Ellington recordings resurface in the latest version of the master's popular '58-'59 sessions issued as Blues In Orbit. With band still riding high after the '56 Newport triumph and fresh off the road from Europe, they recorded a jukebox full of 45 single-sized tracks that bear riveting performances by several classic Ellingtonians including Jimmy Hamilton, Ray Nance, Clark Terry, Britt Woodman, Harry Carney, and Billy Strayhorn playing piano on two cuts. And then there's Johnny Hodges. Hodges caresses and finesses his way through ballads, reinventing the language of heartache. His instantly recognizable voice playfully darts in and out of up-tempo arrangements, always sweeping sweetly up a scale, always drenched in blues.



Tracklist:
1 "Three J's Blues" - 2:54
2 "Smada" - 2:38
3 "Pie Eye's Blues" - 3:27
4 "Sweet and Pungent" - 4:03
5 "C Jam Blues" - 4:52
6 "In a Mellow Tone" - 2:43
7 "Blues in Blueprint" - 3:43
8 "The Swingers Get the Blues, Too" - 3:09
9 "The Swinger's Jump" - 3:53
10 "Blues in Orbit" - 2:29
11 "Villes Ville Is the Place, Man" - 2:33
12 "Track 360" - 2:03
13 "Sentimental Lady" - 4:02
14 "Brown Penny" - 3:02
15 "Pie Eye's Blues" [alternate take] - 3:32
16 "Sweet and Pungent" [alternate take] - 3:52
17 "The Swinger's Jump" [alternate take] - 3:51
18 "Blues in Orbit" [alternate take] - 2:39
19 "Track 360" [alternate take] - 2:01

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Los Angeles on February 4, 1958 (tracks 12 & 19) and February 12, 1958 (tracks 10 & 18 ) and at Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York on February 25, 1959 (track 11), December 2, 1959 (tracks 1, 3-5 & 13-16) and December 3, 1959 (tracks 2, 6-9 & 17).

Tracks 12-19: Bonus tracks on CD reissue

Personnel
Duke Ellington – piano (tracks 1, 3-6 & 8-19)
Billy Strayhorn - piano (tracks 2 & 7)
Ray Nance - trumpet
Cat Anderson, Shorty Baker, Clark Terry - trumpet (tracks 10-12, 18 & 19)
Fats Ford - trumpet (track 11)
Britt Woodman - trombone
Matthew Gee, Booty Wood - trombone (tracks 1-9 & 13-17)
Quentin Jackson - trombone (tracks 10-12, 18 & 19)
John Sanders - valve trombone (tracks 10-12, 18 & 19)
Jimmy Hamilton - clarinet, tenor saxophone
Johnny Hodges - alto saxophone (tracks 1-9, 11 & 13-17)
Russell Procope - alto saxophone, clarinet
Paul Gonsalves - tenor saxophone
Harry Carney - baritone saxophone
Jimmy Woode - bass
Jimmy Johnson - drums (tracks 1-9 & 13-17)
Sam Woodyard - drums (tracks 10-12, 18 & 19)