Far East Suite
Far East Suite | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 1967 | |||
Recorded | December 19–21, 1966 | |||
Studio | New York City | |||
Genre | Jazz, big band | |||
Length | 45:14 | |||
Label | Bluebird/RCA | |||
Producer | Brad McKuen | |||
Duke Ellington chronology | ||||
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Far East Suite is a 1967 concept album by American jazz musician Duke Ellington, inspired by his group's tour of Asia. Ellington and longtime collaborator Billy Strayhorn wrote the compositions.
Strayhorn died in May 1967, making Far East Suite one of the last albums recorded during his life to feature his compositions. The album won the Grammy Award in 1968 for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance – Large Group or Soloist with Large Group.
The album was reissued in 1995 with four previously unreleased alternate takes.[1] In 2003, Bluebird Records issued the album on CD with additional bonus takes.
Background
The album's title is something of a misnomer. As critics
In early 1964, while on tour in England, Ellington and Strayhorn performed four pieces of music for the first time ("Mynah", "Depk", "Agra", and "Amad"), which they called "Expressions of the Far East". By the time of the recording sessions in December 1966 Ellington and Strayhorn had added four more pieces. One, the latter's "Isfahan" was formerly known as "Elf", and had in fact been written months prior to the 1963 tour.
Legacy
Ellington very rarely performed the pieces that made up The Far East Suite. Cook and Morton have suggested that "Isfahan", which later became a jazz standard, "is arguably the most beautiful item in Ellington's and Strayhorn's entire output."[2] The album had a big impact on the Asian American jazz movement[citation needed]. In 1999, Anthony Brown recorded the entire suite with his Asian-American Orchestra. Unlike the 1967 album, Brown's version used Eastern instruments along with standard jazz instruments.
Reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
Penguin Guide to Jazz | [2] |
Cook and Morton, writing for
Participating in
Track listing
(All compositions by Ellington & Strayhorn except 9. by Ellington.)
- "Tourist Point of View" – 5:09
- "Bluebird of Delhi (Mynah)" – 3:18
- "Isfahan" – 4:02
- "Depk" – 2:38
- "Mount Harissa" – 7:40
- "Blue Pepper (Far East of the Blues)" – 3:00
- "Agra" – 2:35
- "Amad" – 4:26
- "Ad Lib on Nippon" – 11:34
- 1995 reissue bonus tracks
- "Tourist Point of View" (alternative take) – 4:58
- "Bluebird of Delhi (Mynah)" (alternative take) – 3:08
- "Isfahan" (alternative take) – 4:11
- "Amad" (alternative take) – 4:15
Personnel
- Duke Ellington – piano
- Mercer Ellington – trumpet, flugelhorn
- Herbie Jones – trumpet, flugelhorn
- William "Cat" Anderson– trumpet
- Cootie Williams – trumpet
- Lawrence Brown – trombone
- Buster Cooper – trombone
- Chuck Connors – bass trombone
- Johnny Hodges – alto saxophone
- Russell Procope – alto saxophone, clarinet
- Jimmy Hamilton – tenor saxophone, clarinet
- Paul Gonsalves – tenor saxophone
- Harry Carney – baritone saxophone
- John Lamb – double bass
- Rufus Jones – drums
References
- ^ AllMusic
- ^ ISBN 978-0-14-104831-4.
- ISBN 0-87930-717-X.
- ^ Feather, Leonard. "Clare Fischer – Blindfold Test". Down Beat. October 18, 1967. Retrieved 2013-04-14.