Duke Ellington – The Ellington Suites

Three suites brought out of the archive

The Ellington Suites appeared in 1976, two years after Duke Ellington’s death. Its recordings come from 1959, 1971 and 1972. Ellington had financed recordings of his orchestra himself and retained the tapes; Norman Granz later brought this material together for Pablo. The album therefore combines different periods within one programme.

“The Queen’s Suite” occupies the first side. “The Goutelas Suite” and “The Uwis Suite” follow on the second. Each suite comprises connected movements, with fifteen individual titles distributed across the three groups. Keeping that organisation in mind helps you hear the shorter sections within a larger sequence rather than as unrelated miniatures.

Two composers behind The Queen’s Suite

The six movements of “The Queen’s Suite” were recorded across several dates in 1959. Billy Strayhorn makes a substantial contribution to the writing. “Lightning Bugs and Frogs” and “Northern Lights” are his compositions, while other movements carry joint credits with Ellington. The suite belongs to the long creative relationship between the two writers.

“The Single Petal of a Rose” provides a particularly concentrated point of entry. Titles such as “Sunset and the Mocking Bird” and “Apes and Peacocks” suggest other images without requiring a literal interpretation of every musical phrase. Follow the differences between the movements and the ways the sequence holds together across them.

The university behind Uwis

“The Uwis Suite” connects with the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Ellington spent five days there in 1972, giving concerts, workshops and teaching sessions. He created the suite for that residency. Its name retains the university connection long after the music has travelled beyond the original occasion.

The preceding “Goutelas Suite”, recorded in 1971, is framed by two brief movements titled “Fanfare”. The orchestra’s personnel also changes across the album’s recording years: Clark Terry participates in the earlier material, Cootie Williams in the later sessions. The record offers three sets of compositions alongside a view of Ellington working with his orchestra across more than a decade.

The Analogue Productions Pablo pressing

AAPJ 187 is one 180-gram LP playing at 33⅓ RPM. Matthew Lutthans mastered it at The Mastering Lab from the original analogue master-tape source, according to the publisher. Manufacture is by Quality Record Pressings. The edition retains the arrangement of three suites and fifteen movements across the two sides of the record.

Michael 45 keeps the goods in Germany and dispatches from Hilden, so customers in Germany and the EU can order without organising a private US import or waiting for customs processing.

More by Duke Ellington: Blues In Orbit · Masterpieces By Ellington

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Series: Pablo – all 30 records, musicians and the session book

Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.

The three suites come from different sessions with changing personnel. “The Single Petal Of A Rose” is a piano solo.