Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra Live!

Live concerts, location recordings and broadcast transcriptions of Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra from 1940 to 1963 reveal a distinctive body of work separate but parallel to the studio sessions. The music heard below highlights Ellington’s biggest stars recorded at dances, live shows and the legendary 1940 Fargo, North Dakota concert. Newly restored broadcast tapes from Duke’s Birthday Sessions recorded in Portland 1953-54 are also heard. Heat of the Moment “Duke” Ellington (1899-1974) was an inventive, charming, gifted, hard-working jazz musician and composer of some 2000 musical works.  Yet, considered solely as a performing bandleader and pianist he would be ranked a premier jazz musician -- his other vast accomplishments aside.  Thanks to nationwide network radio hookups from the Cotton Club in Harlem, Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra achieved widespread fame by 1930.  But they soon realized there was a significant difference between their studio sessions versus live concerts and dance dates.  The drive, enthusiasm and spontaneity of playing for dances or live audiences was muted in the theatricals, stage shows or terse constraints of a 3:00-4:00 minute 78 rpm disc -- though Duke was a master of that medium.  Fortunately, a plethora of excellent live performances and concerts were recorded on audiotape or transcription disc dating back to t