Ellington Suites: The Queen's Suite/The Goutelas Suite/The Uwis Suite

Personnel: Duke Ellington (piano); Cat Anderson, Clark Terry, Shorty Baker, Ray Nance, Cootie Williams, Mercer Ellington, Eddie Preston, Money Johnson, Johnny Coles (trumpet); Britt Woodman, Quentin Jackson, John Sanders, Vince Prudente, Chuck Connors, Booty Wood, Malcolm Taylor (trombone); Harold Minerve, Norris Turney, Paul Gonsalves, Harold Ashby, Harry Carney, Russ Andrews, Russell Procope, Johnny Hodges, Jimmy Hamilton (reeds); Wulf Freedman (electric bass); Joe Benjamin, Jimmy Woode (bass); Jimmy Johnson, Rufus Jones (drums).
Recorded in New York, New York on February 25 and April 1 & 14, 1959, April 27, 1971, and October 5, 1972. Originally released on Pablo (2310-762). Includes liner notes by Stanley Dance.
Personnel: Duke Ellington (piano); Cat Anderson, Clark Terry, Shorty Baker, Ray Nance, Cootie Williams, Mercer Ellington, Eddie Preston, Money Johnson, Johnny Coles (trumpet); Britt Woodman, Quentin Jackson, John Sanders, Vince Prudente, Chuck Connors, Booty Wood, Malcolm Taylor (trombone); Harold Minerve, Norris Turney, Paul Gonsalves, Harold Ashby, Harry Carney, Russ Andrews, Russell Procope, Johnny Hodges, Jimmy Hamilton (reeds); Wulf Freedman (electric bass); Joe Benjamin, Jimmy Woode (bass); Jimmy Johnson, Rufus Jones (drums).
Recorded in New York, New York on February 25 and April 1 & 14, 1959, April 27, 1971, and October 5, 1972. Originally released on Pablo (2310-762). Includes liner notes by Stanley Dance.
Digitally remastered using 20-bit K2 Super Coding System technology.
Audio Remasterer: Joe Tarantino.
Liner Note Author: Ashley Kahn.
Recording information: New York, NY (02/25/1959); New York, NY (04/01/1959); New York, NY (04/14/1959); New York, NY (04/27/1971); New York, NY (10/05/1972).
In 1959, Duke Ellington played at an arts festival in England and met Queen Elizabeth. So enchanted by Her Majesty was he that upon his return to America, Ellington composed the six-part "Queen's Suite." Ellington recorded one copy and sent it to the Queen, never intending it to be released commercially. The two other suites collected here were similarly composed for specific events rather than as commercial releases, but all three provide fascinating glimpses into the musical maturation of an American compositional giant.
Beginning with the evocative "Sunset and the Mockingbird," inspired by a birdsong Ellington chanced to hear when in England, the suite's other sections also echo sounds and sights of the natural world: the northern lights, lightning bugs and frogs. Ellington wrote "The Goutelas Suite" to commemorate the renovation or a 13th century French chateau. The suite conveys the flurry of activity of the building process in the rousing "Get-With-Itness" and the majesty of the finished product in the shiveringly beautiful "Something." "The UWIS Suite," (shorthand for University of Wisconsin), was written during a 1972 Ellington Festival there. Its short middle section, "Klop," is Ellington's lone polka.