Album Description
Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington the most important artists in the history of jazz and the two most influential American musicians of the 20th Century. Because of their centennials (1999 for Duke and 2000 for Louis), their great legacy is celebrating a worldwide rennaissnce. And this month, they are the focus and the continum in Ken Burns' JAZZ, a 20-hour documentary to be broadcast on PBS. In April, 1961, these two giants got togethr in a New York studio for their only encounter. Louis brought his trumpet, voice and the all-stars with Trummy Young and Barney Bigard. Duke brought his pianistic talents and a considerable canon of great compositions. The magic that transpired over one night and the following afternoon was an historic simgularity. This disc contains all 17 master takes that made during those magical sessions, newly remixed from the original tapes with 24-bit/96kHz mastering for maximum fidelity, far superior to the previous mid-price CD issue.
PERSONNEL:
Louis Armstrong (trumpet,vocals), Trummy Young (trombone), Barney Bigard (clarinet), Duke Ellington (piano), Mort Herbert (bass), Danny Barcelona (drums).
Amazon.com
For starters, The Great Summit produced not only itself, both with this Master Takes set and the two-CD Complete Sessions, but also a later summit, Count Basie and Ellington's tandem showdown, First Time. On its own, though, The Great Summit needs no later chapters to justify its celebrated standing in jazz annals. This was and is terrifically important music: Ellington is in grand form between recording the Paris Blues soundtrack and cutting ace sessions like Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins and Duke Ellington and John Coltrane in late 1962. For his part, Armstrong was on leave as well, resting up between ceaseless tours as a bona fide jazz superstar and veteran. So Ellington and Armstrong join hands, backed by the latter's band (Trummy Young on trombone, Barney Bigard on clarinet, Mort Herbert on bass, and Danny Barcelona on drums), tackling 17 of Duke's tunes. Armstrong's sweet, rolling vocal growl gives the tunes endless hugs, just as his band both cuts plump solos and then backs way off so Ellington can throw down alternately swinging and unapologetically modernist solos himself. --Andrew Bartlett
