Masterpieces 1926-1949
Recorded
1926–1949
Released
Log in to like this album.
Log in to hide this album from future recommendations.
Log in to save this album to your lists.
No active filters.
Long out of print, this four-CD box with just-OK sound is nevertheless the best place to learn the Ellington pre-LP-era basics. (As I type, you can score one for five bucks on Discogs.) It’s a judiciously chosen intro to the greatest songbook in jazz, a masterful display; a lot of Blanton-Webster, as there should be, but each era of the Ellington Orchestra during its first half is accounted for. If there’s stuff missing — a lot is — it only demonstrates that songbook’s abundance.