Duke Ellington and His Orchestra
The Treasury Shows Volume 13
Storyville Records
By George W. Harris

Recorded during WWII as special programs as a series of public service
broadcasts, these discs of vintage Ellingtonia are treasures in both
name and quality. This collection features the band recording the 24th
of September, 1945 and includes vocalist Joya Sherrill (my personal
favorite of all Duke's singers), Al Sears, Ray Nance, Taft Jordan, and
Lawrence Brown along with the usual suspects. Rare tunes like "Fickle
Fling", which features wondrous work by Johnny Hodges, are speckled
throughout the set. One of the treats is an obscure ditty called "Fancy
Dan" that has some great breaks by Joe Nanton, Harry Carney and Rex
Stewart. Harry Carney's baritone sax and bass clarinet are palpably
felt the entire time, with his treatment of "Walkin' With My Honey" as
thick as molasses. Perennially underrated clarinetist Jimmy Hamilton is
dead on with is solo on "Main Stem", which could be heard 20 times in a
row without a millisecond of boredom. After checking out these discs,
the obvious question has to be, "Was Ellington consciously aware that
everything he did was so timelessly important?" It's just inconceivable
that people were not aware of such wonderful music emanating through
the airwaves. You can't go wrong with this one.