Search results for "Joe ‘Tricky Sam’ Nanton"

Duke Ellington (featuring Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton): It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing (Rating: 96/100) posted in Music September 14, 09

This rendition of "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing" from the band's 1944 Carnegie Hall concert, is ...

Lonnie Johnson with Duke Ellington: Move Over (Rating: 92/100) posted in Music March 09, 09

This track was the second recording on which Lonnie Johnson joined Duke's band, adding a virtuoso guitar part. The ba...

Duke Ellington: The Blues With a Feelin' (Rating: 91/100) posted in Music March 15, 09

"The Blues With a Feelin'" is an apt title for this track. With the Ellington band's usual fine backing, there are su...

Duke Ellington: It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) (Rating: 96/100) posted in Music December 03, 07

As Gunther Schuller points out in The Swing Era, the composer of this song that named its era was hardly dogmatic abo...

Duke Ellington: Black and Tan Fantasy (Victor) (Rating: 91/100) posted in Music January 20, 08

The second of Ellington's three 1927 "Black and Tan Fantasy" recordings disproves the adage that the Third Time'...

Duke Ellington: St. James Infirmary (Rating: 85/100) posted in Music August 16, 08

Manager Irving Mills got some publisher royalty money from the sales of this flexible Hit of the Week record starring...

Duke Ellington: Mood Indigo (1930) (Rating: 97/100) posted in Music November 06, 07

Duke Ellington, photo by Herb Snitzer "Stan Kenton can stand in front of a thousand musicians and make a dra...

Duke Ellington: Black, Brown and Beige (live 1943) (Rating: 100/100) posted in Music November 09, 07

Preserving Duke's Carnegie Hall debut (attended by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, no less), this 3-part, 45-minute mas...

Duke Ellington (featuring Sonny Greer): Ko-Ko (live 1940) (Rating: 97/100) posted in Music October 23, 08

While Sonny Greer was sometimes described as a casual or erratic timekeeper, he was also known as a subtle and d...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: TWELVE SONNYS OF JAZZ

Jazz Quiz: What do these names have in common? Saul Berman Herman Blount Conrad Yeatis Clark William Criss C...

Duke Ellington: Jack the Bear (Rating: 100/100) posted in Music January 24, 08

Ask most people about great bass records from the early 1940s, and they will probably tell you about Joe DiMaggio get...

Duke Ellington: East St. Louis Toodle-Oo (OKeh) (Rating: 97/100) posted in Music October 19, 07

The quintessential document of Duke’s "jungle music," this 1927 theme was so letter-perfect that Steely Dan paid it g...

Duke Ellington: Black and Tan Fantasy (Brunswick) (Rating: 87/100) posted in Music October 22, 07

A timeless classic of early big-band jazz, this was perhaps the first Ellington tune to really capture the ears of th...

Duke Ellington: Caravan (1937) (Rating: 97/100) posted in Music October 24, 07

Ellington’s early contribution to the Latin jazz canon is a collaboration with valve trombonist Juan Tizol. “Caravan...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: TWELVE LATIN JAZZ CLASSICS

         Percussionist,  artwork by Suzanne Cerny Editor's n...

Duke Ellington: Jungle Nights in Harlem (Rating: 97/100) posted in Music November 05, 07

"The grotesque spectacle of Harlem nightclubs for all-white audiences," historian Ted Gioia believes, "served to miti...

Duke Ellington: Flamingo (Rating: 94/100) posted in Music November 23, 07

In 1940, the star of such Westerns with a black hero as Bronze Buckaroo (1938) and Harlem Rides the Range (1939)...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: JAZZ FOR THE BIRDS

It's only fitting. Since birds inspire us with their songs, composers return the favor, dedicating music in every gen...

Duke Ellington: Black and Tan Fantasy (OKeh) (Rating: 97/100) posted in Music November 24, 07

Ellington's growing musical maturity from the 1920s through the 1940s is one of the most remarkable stories in the hi...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: HARLEM

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Duke Ellington (featuring Bubber Miley): The Mooche (Rating: 96/100) posted in Music November 26, 07

Duke Ellington once described Bubber Miley as "the epitome of soul and a master of the plunger mute." In time, M...

This track review is included in: THE DOZENS: TWELVE TRUMPETERS YOU NEED TO KNOW ON A FIRST NAME BASIS

We all know about Dizzy & Miles, Louis & Wynton, Bix & Brownie. Some trumpeters are so famous, that even a single na...

Duke Ellington: Sophisticated Lady (Rating: 91/100) posted in Music December 03, 07

During his illustrious 50-year recording career, Duke Ellington led >1,000 sessions, each yielding multiple tracks. W...

Duke Ellington: Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me (Rating: 93/100) posted in Music December 04, 07

Duke Ellington was both artist and entrepreneur. The composer who premiered his 45-minute tone poem Black, Brown and ...

Duke Ellington: Washington Wobble (Rating: 62/100) posted in Music February 10, 08

As a tribute, this track serves double duty. "Washington Wobble" can refer to the Evergreen State, with its Cascadia ...

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