JAZZ CLASSIC OF THE MONTH
Duke Ellington could have made his debut at Carnegie Hall during Benny Goodman’s historic concert in 1938 that did include trumpeter Cootie Williams, altoist Johnny Hodges, and baritonist Harry Carney on “Blue Reverie” and the latter two as guests on a jam session version of “Honeysuckle Rose.” Ellington gracefully turned the invitation, choosing to wait for an opportunity to present his own concert.
That great event took place on Jan. 23, 1943. While the music would not be released for many decades, eventually coming out as a three-LP set and reissued on a two-CD release simply called The Duke Ellington Carnegie Hall Concerts, January 1943, it lives up to its expectations.
At the time the Ellington Orchestra had nine major soloists including cornetists Rex Stewart and Ray Nance (who also played violin and sang), trumpeter Shorty Baker, trombonists Tricky Sam Nanton and Lawrence Brown, tenor-saxophonist Ben Webster, Hodges and Carney, and Ellington himself. Even though bassist Jimmy Blanton had passed away and clarinetist Barney Bigard had decided to get off the road, Ellington had no close competition among big bands, particularly when one considers his writing and that of Billy Strayhorn.
This first in a series of Carnegie Hall concerts contained the debut of Ellington’s nearly hour-long “Black, Brown and Beige Suite,” a massive work tha
