“Ellington Uptown” (1953) – Duke Ellington

Album: Ellington Uptown

Artist: Duke Ellington

Year: 1953

Genre: Jazz, Big Band

Grade: A

Duke Ellington’s musical peak came in the 1930s (he has four entries in the Best Songs of the Decade, and all are within the top 35), but his greatest studio LP came in 1953 with Ellington Uptown. Like he did on his ’51 Masterpieces album, Ellington takes advantage of the newfound freedoms provided by the 12” format, allowing his talented big band to stretch out over the course of 5 songs in 43 minutes. He proves he’s a master of all forms: the 78 rpm quick-hitter and the lengthy tone poem that uses all the vinyl on the record.

On opening track “Skin Deep” drummer Louie Bellson unleashes roaring thunder with one of the mightiest drum solos in jazz history. Hell, it’s probably more powerful than any drum solo in rock ‘n’ roll. Four minutes (out of a seven-minute song) of pummeling, swinging rhythms driven by double-kick reverberations — what an opener.

Throughout the album, there are plenty other virtuosic displays, from the dueling clarinet solos in “The Mooche” to Betty Roché’s singing on “Take the ‘A’ Train,” the album’s only vocal track. It all leads to “A Tone Parallel to Harlem,” Ellington’s 14-minute progressive suite that ranks as one of the finest things he’s ever done. While maybe not as ambitious as “Black, Brown & Beige,” the hi-fi can’t be denied. If it isn’t the Duke’s best long song, it’s certainly his best sounding.

All in all, a very underrated Duke Ellington album by fans of both: Ellington and albums. Uptown comes right in the middle of his oft-forgotten early ‘50s period, when instrumental big bands were quickly falling out of favor due to the emergence of vocal pop and rock ‘n’ roll (not to mention all the changes happening in the world of jazz). At the same time, the album as we know it today was still in its earliest stages, and only a few artists even bothered exploring the possibilities. As always, Ellington is ahead of the curve.

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NOTES & CHORDS:

• The 2004 Columbia/Legacy CD reissue of Ellington Uptown contains a good haul of bonus tracks: the two-part, 10-minute “Controversial Suite,” recorded in 1951, and the five-part, 24-minute “Liberian Suite,” recorded in 1947. Along with “Black, Brown and Beige” and “Harlem,” the “Liberian Suite” is one of Ellington’s greatest longform achievements. The “Controversial Suite,” while interesting, is a lesser work.

• My own Mandela Effect: I was convinced that Ellington Uptown was released in 1952. I had ranked it as the Top Album of the year, it was featured in the Music of 1952 landing page, etc. Discovering it was actually released in ’53 (according to Discogs and several other sources) has prompted me to revise the Top 10 of 1952 list (Bud Powell’s The Amazing Bud Powell now takes the #1 spot) and the corresponding ’53 list (sorry, Peggy Lee).

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