I reserve the right to totally reject sketchy reviews, and right now, I am not going to write any style guidelines. Suck it up. I think these are structured pretty well, so something like this would be a good start. Send 'em to me at j-germuska@nwu.edu.
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 1995 20:34:47 -0800 From: "Paul B. Shapiro" <fspbs@aurora.alaska.edu> Subject: Info on earlier Ellington recordings Two recordings by Ellington from the period 1940-43 which are very much worth anyone's listening time: The Blanton/Webster band (RCA Bluebird) (3 CD set). The cream of the band's studio recordings from the period that many consider Ellington's greatest. Not only are Jimmy Blanton and Ben Webster heard to great advantage, but so are all the other great soloists, including Cootie Williams, Rex Stewart, Ray Nance, "Tricky Sam" Nanton, Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, and Barney Bigard along with the classic works penned by Billy Strayhorn. Includes "Take the A Train," "All Too Soon," "Chelsea Bridge", "Cottontail", "KoKo" and many others. A good starting point for anyone who is interested in assembling an Ellington collection. Live @ Fargo, ND, 11/7/1940. (Vintage Jazz Classics) (2 CD set) Unique live session recorded by Jack Towers at the Crystal Ballroom in Fargo, North Dakota. Towers is today known as one of the world's most renowned audio restoration engineers, and is also probably one of the world's biggest fans of Ellingtonia. Many of the classics are here, but so are some lesser known gems that Ellington probably never recorded commercially including "Honeysuckle Rose" and "St. Louis Blues" (at least not with this band!!). Many of the soloists mentioned above are here too--Webster, Hodges, and Stewart are in very good form--it should also be known that this was Ray Nance's first night with the band. Highly recommended.