Markie Listening Notes 6: Duke Ellington

Carnegie Hall 1948 (Vintage Jazz Classics) As I'm sure my pal Mike Brockman would attest, you could listen to Duke Ellington's music the rest of your life and never get bored. On this set, with the orchestra supposedly past its prime, it still manages to rock the bejesus out of a 12-bar blues named "Hi'ya Sue." Jimmy Hamilton plays the most amazing tenor solo I heard on a song of Duke's between Ben Webster's solo on "Cottontail" and Paul Gonsalves' on the Newport "Crescendo and Diminuendo in Blue."