Duke Ellington And His Orchestra "Such Sweet Thunder"

Such Sweet Thunder: Sonnet For Caesar: Sonnet For Hank Cinq : Lady Mac: Sonnet In Search Of A Moor: The Telecasters/Up And Down, Up And Down: Sonnet For Sister Kate: The Star- Crossed Lovers: Madness In Great Ones: Half The Fun: Circle Of Fourths. CBS Realm Q R7152421 (12 in , 19s. id. plus 3s 5d. PT).

A decade has passed since this LP was first issued here yet it remains one of Ellington's finest and most important post-war works. Dedicated originally to the Stratford Shakespearian Festival in Strafford, Ontario, "Such Sweet Thunder" represents Ellington at his most sensitive in terms of composition. True, he has taken liberties with some of the portraits ("we took the liberty of combining characters from two plays" is his half-apologetic summary of lumping the three witches and Iago together as The Telecasters) but in the main all but one of the 'movements' is clearly related to its source. The one exception is Circle Of Fourths, a make-weight exercise for the tenor of Paul Gonsalves and lasting for less than two minutes.

(Significantly the matrix numbers show this to be the last item to have been recorded which seems to indicate that the A&R man wanted some more playing time for the planned LP.) If the writing is unusually delicate then the playing is equal to the occasion; Clark Terry was in the band at the time and he handles the difficult roles of Puck (on up And Down, where he all but makes his trumpet talk) and a part of the musical portrait of Lady Macbeth. The poise of the entire ensemble is noteworthy on Half The Fun where the gently swaying effect symbolises the movement of Cleopatra's barge on the Nile. In fact this is very much a team effort, for Ellington calls upon the solo services of every member of the brass and reed sections (with the exception of trumpeter Willie Cook) during the course of this truly significant album. Taken out of context several of these tracks attain the status of such earlier gems as Bojangles and Harlem Air Shaft. Lady Mac, for example, is one of the Duke's finest moments in recent years and commences with a masterly piano introduction. Of Lady Macbeth Ellington writes: -"though she was a lady of noble birth, we suspect there was a little ragtime in her soul". No review, however short, can avoid mention of the sterling work put in by the trombones throughout, particularly the solo playing of Quentin Jackson and Britt Woodman. In fact it is difficult to praise this LP too highly. Seemingly significant when it first appeared, the passage of time has simply reinforced its claim to greatness. CBS are to be congratulated for reissuing such an important record at a bargain price. A.M.