Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born on April 29, 1899 in Washington, D.C. and died on May 24, 1974.
He is widely recognised as a genius, both in and outside the world of jazz as he has wrote many of the tunes regarded as standards. He also stretched the concept of jazz well away from the 3 minute dance tunes that were popular in the 1930s.
The Duke Ellington Orchestra has included many fine instrumentalists and Ellington in a way to give his stars plenty of room to shine.
Big bands were very popular in the 1930s and the war years of the 1940s but the economics changed as band members were paid more and taxes were imposed, causing their popularity to decline as smaller bebop quartets and quintets emerged in the late 1940s.
Ellington’s appearance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival put big bands back into the spotlight and re-energised his career.
Live albums include:
1940 The Duke At Fargo 1940 Special 60th Anniversary Edition
1943 Carnegie Hall Concerts January 1943
1943 Live At Carnegie Hall Dec 11 1943
1943-1947 Carnegie Hall Concerts
1944 Carnegie Hall Concerts December 1944
1946 Carnegie Hall Concerts January 1946
1946 The Great Concerts Chicago
1947 Carnegie Hall Concerts December 1947
1948 Carnegie Hall November 13 1948
1952 The Seattle Concert
1952 Live At The Blue Note
1952/53 Rare Live Recordings
1953 The Pasadena Concert
1956 At Newport
1959 Live at the Blue Note
1963 The Great London Concerts
1965 A Concert Of Sacred Music From Grace Cathedral
1965 & 1967 Berlin 65 / Paris 67
1966 Ella & Duke Stockholm Concert
1966 Ella & Duke at the Cote D’Azur
1969 Live At Cabaret L’Alcazar
1969 70th Birthday Concert
1972 Live At The Whitney
What are the best live albums by Duke Ellington? To find out, I ask you to vote in the readers poll because there are far more albums than most fans would want to consider owning.
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The 1952 Seattle Concert is a live album by Duke Ellington.
It was recorded at the Civic Auditorium in Seattle, Washington on March 25, 1952.
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The Great Concerts Chicago 1946 is a live album by Duke Ellington.
It features two concerts recorded at the Chicago Civic Opera on January 20, 1946 and November10, 1946.
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Carnegie Hall Concerts 1943-1947 collects together recordings of the famous concerts by Duke Ellington in New York City in the mid 1940s.
These concerts have been issued separately as well:
What it’s not is a comprehensive summary of Ellington in the 1940s as the 1940 Fargo album is essential and it also excludes the December 1943 Carnegie Hall concert.
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Carnegie Hall November 13 1948 is a live album by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra.
It was recorded in New York.
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The Great London Concerts is a live album by Duke Ellington with songs from two concerts in England.
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The 1953 Pasadena Concert is a live album by Duke Ellington.
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Confusingly there are two Ellington albums called Live At The Blue Note, one from 1952 and the other from 1959 Live At The Blue Note.
The 1952 album compiles two radio broadcasts from 1952.
The original vinyl album release was on Aircheck with a CD released by Musidisk. It’s now available as an import on Tokuma.
Continue reading Duke Ellington Live At The Blue Note 1952Carnegie Hall Concerts December 1944 is a live album by Duke Ellington.
It was recorded in New York City of December 19, 1944.
This is one of a series of recordings in the 1940s from this regular venue for the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
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Berlin 65 / Paris 67 is a live album by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra.
As the title suggests, it includes songs taken from two different concerts, two years apart in Europe.
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Live At The Whitney is a live album by the Duke Ellington Trio.
It was recorded at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City on April 10, 1972.
Playing with Duke Ellington and his piano were Joe Benjamin on bass and Rufus Jones on drums.
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