Analogue Productions - CAPJ 4418 SA - SACD Hybrid Mono 

Mastered by  Ryan Smith - Limited Edition - Hybrid SACD Plays On All  CD Players   

Even if you have no interest in the music — and I would worry about one who doesn't at the very least respect Duke Ellington — the fact that this mono, 65-year-old recording sounds as lush as it does is reason to investigate. This is subtlety to marvel at, with textures that can only be described as 'ethereal' or 'gossamer-like.' Offering the original selection of uncut concert arrangements from 1950 of 'Mood Indigo,' 'Sophisticated Lady,' 'The Tattooed Bride,' and 'Solitude,' it has been expanded by 'Vagabonds,' 'Smada' and 'Rock Slippin' At The Blue Note,' from 1951. Ellington's first LP for Columbia, this release helped to establish the concept of an 'album.'" — Sound Quality = 88% - Ken Kessler, HiFi News

"...the SACD has much vaster dynamic range, on the soft and loud ends of the spectrum. It's clear, after listening to the two back-to-back, that the Columbia CD was compressed. Not heavily: before hearing the LP and now the SACD, I wouldn't have guessed it was compressed at all; the superb Mark Wilder, who mastered that edition in DSD, has a subtle touch. But for lifelike dynamics, the real sound of the horns, bass, and drums especially, spend the extra  — Fred Kaplan, Stereophile

 

Masterpieces by Ellington shines from an astonishingly brief period of history that gave the recording industry two of its greatest achievements — the introduction of magnetic tape recording and the 33 1/3 LP, or long-playing record.

 

Starting in 1944-45, advances in magnetic tape recording, revealed as Germany fell to the Allies, spread to the U.S. and Hollywood. Next, Columbia Records introduced the LP record in June 1948 enabling up to 20 minutes of recording time per side. Finally in December 1950, just four short years from the start of the analogue tape recording era, Masterpieces by Ellington was recorded.

 

Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio on Dec. 19, 1950, The Duke was freed from the then-traditional 78 RPM 3 minutes-and-change recording restrictions and these “uncut concert arrangements” of three of his signature songs, blossomed. You'll hear on this fabulous reissue: “Mood Indigo,” “Sophisticated Lady,” with evocative vocals by Yvonne Lanauze, as well as “Solitude.” Masterpieces was also notable for the debut of the full-bodied, surprise-laden “The Tattooed Bride.” Remastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound from the original analog tapes. Captivating to be sure.

 

"Even in this august company, 'The Tattooed Bride' is a swinging virtuoso piece that, as everyone present must have known, couldn't possibly have been captured in this manner in any era before this session — this was also one of the last sessions to feature the classic Ellington lineup with Johnny Hodges, Lawrence Brown, and Sonny Greer, before their exodus altered the band's sound, and so it's a doubly precious piece (as is the whole album), among the last written specifically for this lineup." 

 

 

Musicians:

 

Duke Ellington and His Orchestra

Note: The Bonus Tracks presented here were recorded with additional personnel at subsequent sessions