A double-LP compilation drawing from Duke Ellington's celebrated 1927-1931 Cotton Club era, when his orchestra held the house band chair at Harlem's famous nightclub and cut some of the defining recordings of early jazz for Victor. The set gathers Ellington standards and classics like "Mood Indigo," "Black and Tan Fantasie," "East Saint Louis Toodle-oo," and the ambitious early long-form piece "Creole Rhapsody," spanning the transition from Bubber Miley to Cootie Williams on trumpet and the arrival of Johnny Hodges on sax. Released in 1973 as part of RCA Camden's budget-priced "For Collectors" series, with stereo reprocessed from the original mono masters and liner notes by Down Beat editor Dan Morgenstern. This copy is the Pickwick-label US pressing (DL2-0152), in a gatefold jacket.
Barcode