| Review by dand3 January 25, 2007 (3 of 3 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics:  |
One of my long time favorites. Drummer Louis Bellson (Mr. Pearl Bailey) spent a relatively brief period with the band, but was a strong revitalizing influence. The Ellington band was being swept out to sea with the rest of the big bands as the big band era was ending. Ellington's record sales were down. Bellson's Skin Deep was played by several exhibitors at the NY HiFi show, creating an upsurge in demand. (And the addition of HiFI to the next cover printing.) As a result the band was invited to Newport; the Blond in the Black Dress put them on the cover of Time, and the band never looked back. Without this record, we might well have not had Ellington's second golden age.
Good selections, with the Controversial Suite unlike anything else he ever wrote; one of my favorite pieces of music in any genre.
The sound is good on CD, especially considering the age, so I was unprepared for the degree of improvement on the SACD. Very, very good. Only small sonic reservation I have, is there seemed to be a slight overemphasis on the treble, but clean and not troubling.
The reprint on the Japanese product lists the Controversial Suite at the top of the liner notes, but the liner notes are for a Tone Parallel in Harlem instead. However the CS is on the disk, Tone Parallel is not.
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