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    Afro-Bossa + Concert in The Virgin Islands

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    Afro-Bossa + Concert in The Virgin Islands

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    Pozzie
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    Afro-Bossa + Concert in the Virgin Islands

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    57 views7 pages

    Afro-Bossa + Concert in The Virgin Islands

    Uploaded by

    Pozzie

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    — ce aint: & His Orchestra CONCERT IN. THE ‘VIRGIN ISLANDS Duke Fllington, Piano, Cat Anderson, Roy Burrowes, Cootic Williams, trumpets. Ray Nance, — Comet and Violin, Lawrerice Brown, Buster Couper, Trombones. Chuck Connors, Bass Trombone. Russell Procope, Alto Saxophone and Clarinet, johnny Hodges*, Alto Saxophone. jimmy Hamilton, Clarinet and Tenor Saxophone. Originally released as Repiise R6D69 ® 1963 Reprise Records for the US and WEA International far the world outside the US — at ‘Afro-Bossa 4.17 (Duke Ellington) Tempo Music inc/EMI United Partnership Utd Purple Gazelle 2.45 (Duke #llington) Tempo Music tn¢/EMI United Partnership Ltd 3. Absinthe 3.20 Billy Strayhorn) Tempo Music inc/EMI United Parinership Lid A. Moonbow 2.30 (Duke Ellington) tempo Music inc/EM\ United Partnership td 5 Sempre Amore 3.11 (Duke Ellington) Tempo Music inc/ENt United Partnership itd Silk Lace 2.30 (Duke Ellington) tempo Music inc/ENM United Partnership tra Tigress 3.03 (ally Strayhorn) tempo Music inc/EMI United Partnership Ltd -Angu 2.37 _ (Duke Ellington) rempo Atusic inc/EN United Pasineiship Ltd Volupté 2.42 (Ouke Ellington) Tempo Music inc/EW United Partnership Ud Bonga 2.45 (Duke Ellington) Tempo Music Inc/FMI United Partnership Id Pyramid 3.00 (Ellington, Ellis) mills Music . Eighth Veil 2.48 ~ Gilly Strayhorn) tempo music inc/compbelt connelly & co urd Paull Gonsalves, Tenor Saxophone. Harry Carney, _ Baritone Saxophone, Carinct and Bass Clarinet. - Billy Strayhorn, Pianv. Ernie Shepherd, Bass. Sem - Woodyard, Drums, Cat Anderson, Roy Burrowes, _ Cootic Williams, Billy Strayhorn, auxiliary “percussionists “appears courtesy of vee Records HE, VIRGIN ISLANDS Afro Bossa/Concert In The Virgin Islands — Originally released a Reprise RSG185 9 1965 Reprise cones for eo WEA “onal tor the world outside the US Z 1B. 14, Island Virgin 4.20 ‘uke Hlington, Gilly Strayhorn) ‘Tempo Music inc/EMI United Partnership Ld Virgin Jungle 3.12 (uke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn) Tempo Music inc/EMI United Partaeeship Utd Fiddler On The Diddle 3.10 (Duke Ellington) Tempo Music inc/EMt United Pacey tid Jabal Kitty 2.55 (uke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn) Tempo Music Inc/EMI United Partnership td Things Ain’t What They Used 10 Be 2,50 (Duke Ellington, 7. Persons) Tempo Music Inc/Campbell Connelly & Co Li Big Fat Alice’s Blues 3.48 (Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn), Tempo Music inc/Campbelfconnelly & co Ud "DUKE ELLINGTON JCONCERET IN THE VIRGIN ISLANDS . chelsea Bridge 3.40 (Gilly Strayhorn) Tempo . The Opener 2.45 (Cootie Williams, Ouke Ellington) Tempo Mosic nest United Patna ud Mysterious Chick 3.11 (uke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn) Tempe Music Ince pel comely & ou Barefoot Stoniper 2.48 (Ouke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn) Tempo ssi ne Ms nites Pane Fade Up 3.36 ee Gimmy Hamilton, Duke Ellington) Tempe sic inc/EMI united eee Ad magining the name Duke Ellington without the adjunct Orchestra would almost be like Miles Davis talking without cussing, The orchestra is in many ways the definition of Dukedom - an extension of the man, a multi-limbed manifestation of the myriad voices within a \ eaitiplex soul \ Artistically and stylistically, Ellington himself was just about the most elegant aristocrat that jazz and popular music had produced in the late ) twenties and early thirties, Transcending the successive revolutions of swing, bebop and free jazz, the Duke fashioned his own mode of expression - Ellingtonia - and in handpicking soloists of the calibre of Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves and Cootie Williams to bring his visions to life, he created a living, breathing musical corps that was well on a par with any ensemble of chamber musicians. Orchestra, with its connotations of both sophistication and class- key characteristics in the Ellington makeup- was entirely appropriate for the Duke. Halfway into Afro-b ssa, you question the epithet though, The music is written for a multi-piece group, it a composite of many different elements, it has all the layers that you can weave into an orchestral setting but it hes something earthier less effete. What you hear is a band in the most "live" sense of the word. A band in the most full-blooded of swing, a band rocking in \ rhythm. It's a big band dispensing a big, bad, hot sound. | You hear it more so on Concert In The Virgin Islands where Ellington and the likes of Cootie Williams, Cat Anderson and Paul Gonsalves really up \ the ante on numbers such as The Barefoot Stomper, Jungle Kitty and Mysterious Chick. As sharply dressed as they were, Duke Ellington and his men could loosen their ties when they were on the bandstand. There is a sense of sweat and heat as well as elegance and poise at play here. You can hear it all in the music. In fact all the chythmie and harmonic richness, the sensual feel of the arrangements, the finely threaded textures, the hothouse urgency of the sound and the languor in some of the thematic movements are a reflection of the twin forces in Ellington's creative psyche: iron discipline and free flowing fantasy. As much as the Duke arranged with precision, he also wrote with a flair that touched on the magical, the fanciful. Ellington's music carries as much mystique as it does rationale, If the Duke’ as formal speech. Echoes of the high and low life are to be found in Ducal reations were sonic literature then they had slang as well narratives. Although Ellington was one of the first musicians to endow jazz with a status and respectability equal to that of classical music [mostly through his superb suites], it's worth remembering that he cut his teeth in the heady, danceadelic atmosphere of Harlem's world famous Cotton club where a hot hand, not an orchestra was the order of the day. In the late twenties, the 78 rpm recording format meant that three minutes were all you had to make a point and make ‘em dance. Ellington chowed that he had the economy, concision and sense of groove in his music to do just that. His texts blended funky vernacular and polished grandiloquence with a formidable coherence Ellingtonia - the term the master used to drive home the individuality of his music beyond category or genre, was indeed a strange brew. It bubbled with ethereal poise (Black, Brown, Beige, Such Sweet Thunder] and volcanic energy [Afro-Eurasian Eclipse, Hot Summer Dance, Ellington At Newport] I's interesting to see that the more open-minded contemporary jazz musicians think of Ellington in a vast array of guises; Don Byron, the man taking the darinet into the twenty first century, refers to Ellington as a "skronky" piano player such was the idiosyncratic nature of his playing. Pianist Jason Moran, in recent covers such as Later has reminded us of some of the sinister ambiences surrounding Ellington's music; he's highlighted the dark side of the Duke for Randy Weston, the great Brooklyn-born pianist who has spent a lifetime developing a bold, composite language between jazz and African rhythms, he has stated quite emphatically that Ellington was intent on interpreting the sounds of life in the broadest sense. He consequently drew inspiration from the behavioural characteristics of his people, the sons and daughters of the diaspora. African-American ways of talking, walking, socialising were subtlely encoded in Ellington's music Any number of pieces on Afro-Bossa bear out Weston's observation The music has blackness to go: in the choppy patterns of the brass there's a kind of suck-teeth attitude that you might find in New York, Kingston or Dakar and the underlying rhythm section, alternating between slow burn and percussive potboil, has all the glowing intensity of a congregation that sighs to a preacher's parching sermon. Although critics have already noted that some of Ellington’s creations, like many other musicians of the post-Jospehine Baker arts world, played upon little evidence of artistic calculation on Afro-Bossa. The recording may be exotic in its use of a the European ideal of "Une nouvelle vague exotique," there’ "foreign" idiom such as the bossa nova, but the music is not defined by the bossa so much as launched by it. The compositions remain Ellingtonian more so than derivative of any passing vogue. In his original sleeve notes Stanley Dance asserts that "Via rhythms and percussion, a basically African impulse has been given to that complex microcosm which is the Ellington musical world." It's a world of startling tonal colour and rhythmic drive. [t's one which offers glimpses of the shape of jazz to come; you can hear the pounding shuffle stops of Mingus on Absinthe, the loping swing of Oliver Nelson on the chizpy Silk Lace, the weird, warped haziness of Sun Ra on the serpentine percussion patterns of Bonga, a brilliant evocation of the creepiness of a deserted town. Concert In The Virgin Islands gives a further demonstration of the awesome power of Ellington's orchestra as vehicle for both strong personalities and group cohesion. The soloing by the likes of Paul Gonsalves, Cat Anderson and Lawrence Brown is an embarrassment of riches. As with so many other Ellington recordings, the energy is channelled, controlled, harnessed to a tee Recorded in 1963 and 1965 respectively, Afro-bassa and Concert In The Virgin Islands are faithful reminders that Duke Ellington was a fearless musical explorer intent on blending big band arrangements with global rhythms. A practitioner of jazz tending towards what is now termed World Music, Duke Ellington was ahead of his time. Primarily because he didn't let others define time for him. In the words of Leonard Feather, "There is nothing more like Ellington than Ellingtonia itself." Kevin Le Gendre, Now's The Time/Echoes CElem rey ed Project Director: Florence Halfon Project Co-ordinator: Mike Bartlett New liner notes by: Kevin Le Gendre Artwork design by: London Advertising Partnership Ren ea ur ee A Une og London Advertising Partnership, Mike Delanian, Te nee a ae Eu) ocd CORE CREO eA tel om CERN Intemational for the world outside the US Tracks 13-23 © 1965 Reprise Records for the US and TEANone nna a ec e acy SSPE mre an The copyright in the sound recording and artwork is owned by Warner Music UK Ltd Ronee Aum ine EM) Europe, a Warner Music Group Company Unauthorised copying, hiring, public performance and Dee Rar Torr) ry Cverner

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