Today, 27 April, 2020 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the first recording session for the album New Orleans Suite.
Back in New York following their sojourn in Louisiana, the Orchestra laid down 5 tracks, the essence of the suite. Those portraits of luminaries from the crescent city such as Louis Armstrong and Mahalia Jackson which augmented these main movements were recorded later.
This was to be Johnny Hodges' final recording session. The next time Ellington would be in a recording studio when he set down piano versions of several movements from The River was on 11 May, the day Johnny Hodges died. Listen out for his phosphorescent solo on Blues for New Orleans, the first track of the album but the last track for the album recorded fifty years today. We present the recordings here in session order.
Should this session have given you a taste for the full album, and in album order at that, it
One other uncollected track was recorded at that same session and destined for the stockpile: Rext. The track may be found on the appropriately named Storyville label. The album is entitled New York, New York.
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