180g 200g 45rpm Box Sets.

Duke Ellington - Ellington Uptown - 180g LP Mono

Product no.: PPANML4639

In stock

Duke Ellington - Ellington Uptown - 180g LP Mono

£29.99

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Description

Pure Pleasure / Columbia - PPAN ML 4639 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl

AAA 100% Analogue - Mastering by Ray Staff at Air Mastering London

Limited Edition - Pressed at Pallas Germany - Mono - Columbia ML 4639

AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only, from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head

Ellington Uptown makes its release special as it demonstrates how effective mono was in translating jazz classics of the day into highly listenable experiences for today’s audiophile. - Sound 4/5 AudiophileAudition

I have 2 ML-4639 Masterworks issues (6-eye gray label), 1 Columbia archive-grade special issue and a reissue from the '80s and, based on all this background evidence, I must say that this reissue is truly a lovely job. Each one of these pressings has a slightly different "flavor" but it's all good, and this latest one is truly a welcome addition to my collection. Long after much of the popular music of recent and not-so-recent decades has faded away, Duke will still be standing there tall as ever. Excellent taste, innovative charts, superb musicianship, great attention to detail and an incredibly cohesive band will ensure this immortality. Perfect Record ,. This is Ellington flexing his compositional muscles. "Perdido" rounds out the set just fine. Get this re-master. The music jumps out at you. Makes the individual of discerning taste remember why they listen to vinyl. LP Review

For Columbia Records Duke Ellington was so important back in the '50s previous posting that this album was released in the representative Masterworks series, actually reserved for intellectual classical and Broadway shows. In addition, this LP does away with the criticism, the early 50s would have been an unproductive phase for the Duke, every one of the dynamic tracks in concert length exposes this view as untenable.

The engine of the Duke Ellington band at that time was the young Louis Bellson, its revolutionary double-bass drum technique and his rare property to build positive percussion solos are particularly good in the first piece of the LP to hear the self-penned "Skin Deep", a showpiece of the audiophiles that time. Classics from the charts of the Dukes have been extensively re-rendered, the singer Betty Roche sends the "A-Train" on a journey to the land of bebop, "The Mooche" shifts the clarinetist Jimmy Hamilton and Russell Procope in the spotlight and Ellington's Boogie-Woogie Piano announces the start of a supercharged "Perdido" for the trumpeter Clark Terry. The highlight of the LP is a sharply drawn, probably unbeatable version of "A Tone Parallel To Harlem" in idiomatic swing that gives plenty of frequently emerging in pop concerts performances in 'symphonic' style far behind.

Another argument for this LP is the superb sound quality that is owed to the best of Columbia's recording engineers.

Duke Ellington’s Ellington Uptown has been released many times on both Sony and Columbia and in at least three issues as well as on LP in the 1950s. It was recorded over a one year period from Dec. 1951 to Dec. 1952. Columbia originally released Uptown on its Masterworks series, which they usually reserved their highbrow classical music.

It is easy to see why since Uptown contained A Tone Parallel to Harlem that symphonies have tackled over the years when they do their “jazz night” tributes to Duke. Another reason that Uptown has kept its mystique is the fact that Louis Bellson’s double bass drum was put to good use on his self-penned Skin Deep. It was a challenge for audio systems of the day. I’d have to say that Bellson’s solo on Skin Deep may be a selling point for this audiophile LP that Pure Pleasure has issued on 180 gram vinyl. It certainly sounds fine in glorious mono. Also Wendell Marshall’s bass is woody and resonant and the trumpets snap particularly Clark Terry on Perdido. Clarinetists Jimmy Hamilton and Russell Procope give The Mooche an exotic flavor.

Betty Roche scats to good effect on “A” Train with the band members giving her encouragement. All in all the Pure Pleasure treatment given to Ellington Uptown makes its release special as it demonstrates how effective mono was in translating jazz classics of the day into highly listenable experiences for today’s audiophile. - 4/5 AudiophileAudition

Recorded in December 1951 and 1952, Ellington Uptown joins stunning, extended works of recent vintage ("A Tone Parallel to Harlem", "The Liberian Suite," "The Controversial Suite") with fresh looks at such bona fide classics by Ellington and alter ego Billy Strayhorn ("The Mooche," "Take the 'A' Train)," as well as "Perdido," co-written by longtime star valve trombone soloist Juan Tizol. Ellington (1899-1974) was justly acclaimed for his portraits of various principal players; "Harlem" is a portrait-in-sound of daily life in the world's most famous African-American community. Vocalists also take star turns herein, with Betty Roche's jauntily bopping rendition of "'A' Train," and Al Hibbler's moving "I Like The Sunrise," the first movement of "The Liberian Suite." And there's Louie Bellson establishing himself as the dean of double bass drums on his "Skin Deep." Now expanded by six bonus cuts, and remastered to enhance the album's already spectacular sound,

Drums – Louis Bellson
Piano – Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington
Saxophone – Harry Carney, Hilton Jefferson, Jimmy Hamilton, Paul Gansalves, Russell Procope
Trombone – Britt Woodman, Juan Tizol, Quentin Jackson
Trumpet – William Anderson, Clark Terry, Ray Nance, Willie Cook

Selections:

1. Skin Deep

2. The Mooche

3. Take The 'A' Train

4. A Tone Parallel To Harlem

5. Perdido

Duke Ellington - Ellington Uptown - 180g LP

ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES

AAA 100% ANALOGUE

We use the Original Tapes and work with only the Best Mastering Studios

PALLAS

Plated and Pressed at Pallas in Germany on 180 gram Virgin Vinyl

Highest Quality Jackets and Inner Sleeves

LIMITED EDITION

Low Numbers per Stamper Released in Limited Quantities

Pure Pleasure Records
The Restoration of the Art of Sound
180g Vinyl Mastered From The Best Available Sources

At the beginning of the 90s, in the early days of audiophile vinyl re-releases, the situation was fairly straightforward. Companies such as DCC, Mobile Fidelity, Classic Records and, of course, Pure Pleasure all maintained a mutual, unwritten ethical code: we would only use analogue tapes to manufacture records. During the course of the present vinyl hype, many others have jumped on the bandwagon in the hope of securing a corner of the market. Very often they are not so ethical and use every imaginable source to master from: CDs, LPs, digital files, MP3s – or employed existent tools from the 80s and 90s for manufacturing.

A digital delay is gladly used when cutting a lacquer disc because tape machines with an analogue delay have become quite rare and are therefore expensive. When cutting the lacquer, the audio signal is delayed by one LP revolution against the signal, which controls the cutter head, and for this a digital delay is very often employed. Of course, the resultant sound signal is completely digital and thus only as good as this delay.

We should like to emphasize that Pure Pleasure Records on principle only uses the original master tape as the basis for the entirely analogue cutting of lacquer discs. In addition, the pressing tool is newly manufactured as a matter of principle. We only employ existing tools for manufacturing if an improved result is not forthcoming, e.g. the title Elvis Is Back, which was mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray, or several titles from our Philips Classics series, which in any case Willem Makkee cut from the original masters at the Emil Berliner Studios in the 90s. It goes without saying that we only used the mother and that new tools were made for our production. To put it in a nutshell: we can ensure you that our releases are free from any kind of digital effects and that the lacquer discs are newly cut.

There really is nothing quite like it. It’s the touch, the feel, you have to stop and stare, the cover, the real thing, even the smell.

Its tangible, you can feel it, see it, study it, muse/dream over it, it’s real, someone has spent hours and hours over its construction and presentation. Pure Pleasure Records is just that, Pure Pleasure and that is what it has set out to be. The music and the physical record. Something to keep, treasure, admire and above all enjoy.Of course with vinyl it’s not just a record, it’s the cover, the sleeve notes, you are holding a unique package, produced by craftsmen.

60 Years Pallas

Audiophile Vinyl - Made in Germany For over 60 years the family business in the third generation of the special personal service and quality "Made by Pallas" is known worldwide. Our custom PVC formulation produces consistently high pressing quality with the lowest surface noise in the industry. Our PVC complies with 2015 European environmental standards and does not contain toxic materials such as Lead, Cadmium or Toluene. Our vinyl is both audiophile and eco-grade!

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