From a tape of uncertain origin, we offer another mixture of tunes played by Duke Ellington and his men in November 1952.
Ko-Ko played at Birdland in November 1952
In the Goodies Room, DESS members will in additon find some NBC broadcast episodes that show signs of having been cut and pasted to something that is not mentioned in the discograhies, such as New Desor. The following numbers are played:
*Lullaby Of Birdland (n.c.)*Perdido*Rock Skippin’ At The Blue Note*Ko-Ko*My Little Brown Book*Cottontail*The Mooche*How High The Moon*Smada*Honeysuckle Rose & Theme*
A few of these, seems to come from a session that resulted into a commercial issue, Jazz Unlimited JUCD 2036 (Desor number 5223 ) from the so called Silver Jubilee broadcasts, the rest coming from an NBC broadcast of November 1952 /(Desor number 5227). The former are indicated in bold above but subject to some doubt.
This is an interesting mixture of Ellington in the early forties and Ellington in the fifties (Cotton Tail, Ko-Ko against Rock-Skippin’ At The Blue Note). and old against modern (The Mooche and How High The Moon), but this was a time when a lot of things happened in jazz.
The soloists are easily recognizable and there are no surprises here, for instance Jimmy Hamillton gets two features in Smada and Honeysuckle Rose and of course Clark Terry in Perdido. In Ko-Ko and The Mooche, Quentin Jacksson is heard on wa-wa trombone. Two of the numbers, Lullaby Of Birdland and Rock-Skippin’ At The Blue Note are strictly instrumentals. How High The Moon is an exciting number, based on the be-bop tune called Ornithology, with trumpet breaks by Ray Nance, Clark Terry and Willie Cook.
We hope you will enjoy the music!
The link in the Goodies doesn’t reach the music; it lands on the article.