If Beale Street Could Talk...

 

… from “His Master’s Voice” Record Review, July-August, 1949 (No. 4907)

W. C. Handy’s Beale Street Blues has never been more enchantingly presented than it is by Duke Ellington in this latest record by his band of one of  the classic items of the jazz repertoire.

In his lovely slow arrangement of the piece the Duke has gone all out to capture the nostalgia and musical charm of early folk music known as the blues. Following an introduction (based, incidentally, on a phrase the Duke used in his Black, Brown and Beige suite) Jimmy Hamilton’s lovely clarinet is heard rhapsodizing above rich toned trombones to produce music that is gripping in its intensity. Then Harold baker’s trumpet takes over, backed by the reeds, to produce a more caressive mood. Later the mood reverts to poignancy as Ray 

Nance’s pungent trumpet is heard, this time over the whole ensemble, the voicing of which is something worth hearing for itself alone. 

Rockabye River is, if possible, even more enthralling. Another captivating slow melody, it variegates between the frantic yearning of fiercely growling trumpets and the more restrained heart appeal of some of the loveliest alto saxophone playing that has been heard, even from the inimitable Johnny Hodges.

Both records are Ellington at his most soul-stirring best and will go straight to the hearts of jazz and more conventional music lovers alike.