The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse cover

The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse

Released

Possibly the greatest album ever made by a septuagenarian: Recorded in 1971 and released a year after his 1974 death, The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse has the kind of zest you’d associate with a much younger man. Not Duke’s own youth, but something like this version, a youthful contemporary with wide-open ears — it even incorporates rock rhythms in ways that sound utterly Dukish — with an offhanded casualness underlining even the most florid touches. Certainly, nobody in music made more of Marshall McLuhan’s theories, explicitly acknowledged in the album’s long spoken introduction.

Michaelangelo Matos

Recommended by

Suggestions
Waltz Again cover

Waltz Again

David Murray 4tet & Strings
Breaking It Up! cover

Breaking It Up!

Louis Prima, Keely Smith
In Carterian Fashion cover

In Carterian Fashion

James Carter
Blues in Orbit cover

Blues in Orbit

Duke Ellington
Butt Of Course… cover

Butt Of Course…

The Jimmy Castor Bunch
What Goes Around cover

What Goes Around

Dave Holland Big Band
Made in Dakar cover

Made in Dakar

Orchestra Baobab
Corn Meal Dance cover

Corn Meal Dance

William Parker
Masterpieces by Ellington cover

Masterpieces by Ellington

Duke Ellington
Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de Couleur Libres cover

Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de Couleur Libres

Matana Roberts
Afro-Jaws cover

Afro-Jaws

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
Masterpieces 1926-1949 cover

Masterpieces 1926-1949

Duke Ellington