LOUIS ARMSTRONG & DUKE ELLINGTON — The Great Summit Complete Sessions (1961-2000) RM | 2CD Deluxe Edition | FLAC (tracks+.cue) lossless

Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington were (and are) two of the main stems of jazz. Any way you look at it, just about everything that's ever happened in this music leads directly -- or indirectly -- back to them. Both men were born on the cusp of the 19th and 20th centuries, and each became established as a leader during the middle '20s. Although their paths had crossed from time to time over the years, nobody in the entertainment industry had ever managed to get Armstrong and Ellington into a recording studio to make an album together. On April 3, 1961, producer Bob Thiele achieved what should be regarded as one of his greatest accomplishments; he organized and supervised a seven-and-a-half-hour session at RCA Victor's Studio One on East 24th Street in Manhattan, using a sextet combining Duke Ellington with Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars. This group included ex-Ellington clarinetist Barney Bigard, ex-Jimmie Lunceford swing-to-bop trombonist Trummy Young, bassist Mort Herbert, and drummer Danny Barcelona. A second session took place during the afternoon of the following day. The music resulting from Thiele's inspired experiment is outstanding and utterly essential. That means everybody ought to hear this album at least once, and many will want to hear it again and again all the way through, for this is one of the most intriguing confluences in all of recorded jazz. Armstrong blew his horn with authority and sang beautifully and robustly. "Azalea" is a harmonically pixilated melody with complicated, peculiarly rhymed lyrics composed by Duke many years earlier with Armstrong in mind. Other highlights include the bluesy "I'm Just a Lucky So and So," a smoking hot, scat-laden rendition of "Cotton Tail," and "The Beautiful American," a marvelously modern exercise composed on the spot by Ellington that leaves one with the curious impression that Armstrong has just finished sitting in with Charles Mingus. It's also a premonition of the Ellington/Mingus/Roach Money Jungle session that would take place the following year. Since Thiele had "borrowed" Ellington from Columbia without permission, Roulette compensated by "lending" Count Basie & His Orchestra for the big-band blowout album entitled First Time! The Count Meets the Duke. The Armstrong/Ellington master takes were originally issued on two long-playing records; Together for the First Time came out on Roulette in 1961 and The Great Reunion appeared in 1963. Both albums later resurfaced as a Roulette LP two-fer entitled The Duke Ellington/Louis Armstrong Years. This material is also available in a Roulette Jazz Deluxe Edition with The Making of The Great Summit, a fascinating supplementary disc containing an hour's worth of rehearsals, conversations, and alternate takes. Those who truly love and respect Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington will want to obtain, absorb, study, and cherish the Deluxe Edition of The Great Summit. arwulf arwulf
The Great Summit | The Master Takes    
1    Duke's Place    5:00
 Duke Ellington / Bob Katz / Bob Thiele
2    I'm Just A Lucky So And So    3:06
 Mack David / Duke Ellington
3    Cottontail    3:39
 Duke Ellington
4    Mood Indigo    3:54
 Barney Bigard / Duke Ellington / Irving Mills
5    Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me    2:34
 Duke Ellington / Bob Russell
6    The Beautiful American    3:05
 Duke Ellington
7    Black And Tan Fantasy    3:57
 Duke Ellington / Bubber Miley
8    Drop Me Off In Harlem    3:46
 Duke Ellington / Nick A. Kenny
9    The Mooche    3:36
 Duke Ellington / Irving Mills
10    In A Mellow Tone    3:45
 Duke Ellington / Milt Gabler
11    It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)    3:56
 Duke Ellington / Irving Mills
12    Solitude    4:52
 Eddie DeLange / Duke Ellington / Irving Mills
13    Don't Get Around Much Anymore    3:29
 Duke Ellington / Bob Russell
14    I'm Beginning To See The Light    3:34
 Duke Ellington / Don George / Johnny Hodges / Harry James
15    Just Squeeze Me    3:56
 Duke Ellington / Lee Gaines
16    I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)    5:28
 Duke Ellington / Paul Francis Webster
17    Azalea    5:01
 Duke Ellington
The Making Of The Great Summit    
1 In A Mellow Tone    4:15
      a. warm-up
      b. take one - complete take
2 I'm Beginning To See The Light   6:56
      a. take one - false start
      b. take four - two false starts
      c. take five- complete take
      d. take six - conversation, false start
      e. take seven -long false start
3 Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me    5:42
      a. take one - rehearsal, working out arrangement
      b. take two - discussion, complete take
      c. take three false start
4 Don't Get Around Much Anymore    10:43
      a. take two - breakdown
      b. take three breakdown
      c. take four - discussion, false start
      d. take five - complete take
      e. discussion and rehearsal of ending
5. Duke's Place    4:18
      take five - Lucky Roberts intro, complete take
6 Drop Me Off In Harlem    4:57
      take two - complete take
7 I'm Just A Lucky So And So    4:37
      a. conversation
      b. take one - false start
      c. take two - complete take,discussion
8. Azalea    8:05
      a. take eight - discussion, false start
      b. take nine - false start
      c. take ten - complete in two sections
9. Black and Tan Fantasy   7:13
      a. take three - false start
      b. conversation leading to take four
      c. take five - false start
      d. take six - complete take
      (this ending was usedwith take 4 as the master)
10 Band Discussion on Cottontail    1:08
Credits :
Bass – Mort Herbert
Clarinet – Barney Bigard
Drums – Danny Barcelona
Piano – Duke Ellington
Trombone – Trummy Young
Trumpet, Vocals – Louis Armstrong