Live at the Blue Note – Duke Ellington

Artist: Duke Ellington

Year: 1959

Genre: Big Band

Grade: A

On this legendary live set — expanded to two CDs and two-plus hours for the 1994 expanded reissue — Duke Ellington and his jazz orchestra adopt a bluesy affectation. Some of the Duke’s piano phrasings traverse the same avant-garde territory as Thelonious Monk. Then again, Mr. Ellington is without compare. Modern music as we know it simply wouldn’t exist without his trailblazing innovations, and Live at the Blue Note is a good example of why.