This is another one of those random jazz records I own that I couldn't even find one decent review of. So it seems I will have to fall back on my own opinions yet again! Predictably, my opinion is that this is excellent jazz music. It's Duke Ellington, after all. With a full band behind him, he runs through 15 short songs over two sides, in a diversity of styles, the one consistency being that nearly everything is good. If I had to criticize (and I do), I would say that the tracks with vocals are less stirring than the instrumentals, and perhaps more importantly, this was a very early jazz record, so it does sound somewhat dated today in the way that (in my opinion) 'modern' jazz of the 50s and 60s does not. This is only relevant by way of comparison to Ellington's later work, with which I am not thoroughly familiar, but have heard enough of to confidently say that he did later surpass what he accomplished here. Thumbs up all around.
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