Tuesday 1 June 2021

Reelin' In The Years 5: Express Yourself

How do you follow an act like the monologue from Jack E. Leonard in the previous post?

Well, Duke pulled out all the stops.

From this same engagement, 25 April, 1968, here is a version of Take The 'A' Train that Ellington featured during this time. It's taken at breakneck speed and is more of an express. The familiar Cootie Williams ray Nance-inspired trumpet solo is replaced by a high speed fugue created by clarinetist Jimmy Hamilton.

In the next post, and the last in this series for a while, we will reveal the closing act of that particular engagement.

For now, here is quite the quickest way to get to Harlem!


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