Below is a poll for you to vote for your favourite Duke Ellington live albums.
There is a huge number – well over fifty – and whilst you probably haven’t heard them all, which of those that you have heard, would you recommend to other people?
Is there a difference between the albums that you’d recommend to someone who is familiar with many of the studio recordings by Duke Ellington and his orchestra and those that you’d recommend to an Ellington novice?
What Are The Best Live Albums By Duke Ellington?
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What Other People Say
Wilson & Alroy’s Reviews – Duke Ellington – this website rates albums with up to 5 stars and these are the live albums by the Duke:
- The Great Chicago Concerts 1946 – 5 stars
- Yale Concert 1968 – 4.5 stars
- The Carnegie Hall Concerts (December 1944) – 4 stars
- Cornell University Concert 1948 – 4 stars
- The Great Paris Concert 1963 – 4 stars
- Live At Fargo North Dakota November 7, 1940 – 3.5 stars
- The Carnegie Hall Concerts (January 1943) – 3.5 stars
- The Great London Concerts 1963/64 – 3.5 stars
- 70th Birthday Concert 1969 – 3 stars
- Eastbourne Performance 1973 – 2.5 stars
I’m surprised the Newport 1956 album hasn’t been rated and I think the 60th anniversary version of the 1940 Fargo concert would be significantly higher if this better sound version was rated.
DigitalDreamDoor – 100 Greatest Live Jazz Albums – includes the following live recordings by Duke Ellington:
- Ellington At Newport 1956 – this is at #1
- The Great Chicago Concert
- Live at the Whitney
- The Great Paris Concert
- All Star Road Band Vol. 1
NewYorker.com – 100 Essential Jazz Albums – names five Duke Ellington live albums but only one of them is live and that is…
Ellington at Newport 1956
Reddit – Essential Duke Ellington Albums sees some live albums recommended:
- Ellington at Newport
- The Duke At Fargo 1940
- At The Hurricane 1943
BestEverAlbums.com – Duke Ellington Best Ever Albums – this website asks members to submit lists of favourite albums and then it analyses those lists. The live albums recommended are:
- Ellington At Newport
- The Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1943
- The Duke At Fargo 1940
AllAboutJazz.com – The Ten Best Live Jazz Recordings (1953-65) includes at #5…
Ellington At Newport
JazzwiseMagazine.com – The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World includes one Ellington live album and it is…
Ellington At Newport
The Blanton-Webster Band collection of studio recordings from 1940 to 1942 is also included and I agree that it is essential.
When I look at what’s suggested by other people, I’m surprised at how little variety there is. The conventional wisdom is that live recordings by Duke Ellington begin with Ellington At Newport from 1956 and can stretch to include a few classics from the early 1940s. I think that might be because Duke Ellington isn’t a fashionable name like Miles Davis or John Coltrane but his musical is definite due a big revival.
It will be interesting to see what my poll says when I can get 50 or more voters to express their opinion.
What Are The Best Live Jazz Albums Of All Time?
Please vote in my poll to find the best live jazz albums. While you may not have heard all of them, I see a vote as a recommendation to other readers.
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What great live jazz albums have I missed?
You can see the complete list of readers polls at Live Album Polls.
Live Album Polls For The Great Jazz Artists
I have polls for the following artists: – Louis Armstrong – Count Basie – John Coltrane – Miles Davis – Eric Dolphy – Duke Ellington – Dizzy Gillespie – Billie Holiday – Charles Mingus – Thelonious Monk – Charlie Parker – Lester Young –