DUKE ELLINGTON’S TREASURY SHOWS
Duke Ellington and his orchestra were featured on a series of weekly radio programs during 1945-46 that became known as The Treasury Shows. While the commercial purpose was to sell war (and later victory) treasury bonds, the 55-minute programs gave Ellington an opportunity to perform suites, his hits, standards, and some unlikely material, mostly without any interruption. The shows, which have very good sound quality, survived and were made available in the 1980s by Jerry Valburn on his Meritt label. Valburn released 48 LPs in all, with the last couple featuring other rare broadcasts from 1953.
The Storyville label for their D.E.T.S. subsidiary has reissued all of the programs on 25 two-CD sets. In addition to containing two radio shows, each twofer also includes briefer (and sometimes previously unreleased) broadcasts that are mostly from the 1943-44 period and often taken from Ellington’s extended engagements at the Hurricane Club in New York.
Vol. 25 has recently been released, completing this very valuable series. Included on this set are a nine-song broadcast from June 1953 (only previously available on a Meritt “bonus” album) plus four shorter radio programs from the Hurricane Club during 1943-44 that are mostly being released for the first time.
Although some think of Ellington as being in an off period during 1952-54 when Johnn
