Piano in the Foreground [Bonus Tracks]

Read About This Recording

Because Duke Ellington was such a major innovator in jazz and popular music as a composer, arranger and bandleader, his piano playing was sometimes overshadowed, if not overlooked. While it was often said that his main instrument was his orchestra, which ranked among the top five in any year from 1926 until his death in 1974, Ellington was also a notable pianist.

Born in Washington D.C. in 1899, Ellington seemed destined to become an artist, but changed his mind after seeing the local barrelhouse and ragtime pianists play for adoring crowds. Inspired by the great stride pianists James P. Johnson and Willie The Lion Smith, Ellington was himself an impressive stride player by the mid-1920s. He differed from most of his generation by continuing to modernize his style throughout the years, developing a sparse and percussive style that became an influence in later periods on Thelonious Monk and Cecil Taylor, while not losing sight of his roots in stride.

Piano in the Foreground and Piano in the Background were rarities for the 1960-61 period in that they put the focus back on Ellington's playing. Piano in the Foreground puts even more of a spotlight on Ellington, for it is primarily a trio date with bassist Aaron Bell and drummer Sam Woodyard. Duke stretches out on a few favorite standards (including Body and Soul and I Can't Get Started) plus some of his newer and rather obscure material such as Cong-Go, Fountainebleau Forest and It's Bad to Be Forgotten, tunes deserving of being revived. In addition, there are seven bonus tracks added from 1957, including two contrasting versions of All the Things You Are and four Piano Improvisations.

Duke Ellington shows that even if he had not been a talented arranger, composer and bandleader, he could have easily made a fine living as a creative modern jazz pianist. This program is well worth checking out.

-Scott Yanow

Extended Article

Whenever he introduced the members of his orchestra to audiences around the world, Duke Ellington (1899-1974) invariably and jokingly referred to himself as the piano player. On Piano in the Foreground, the Maestro's singular touch and graceful solos are center stage for a program of sublime originals, one dream-like piece by longtime collaborator Billy Strayhorn, plus four of the most perdurable and pleasurable entries in the Great American Songbook. Given exemplary support on the bulk of this set by Aaron Bell and Sam Woodyard, the orchestra's bass-drums tandem at the time of the 1961 recordings herein, this newly remastered collection has been expanded to eighteen selections, with seven bonus tracks coming from two 1957 dates. As Joe Goldberg astutely pointed out in his original notes: If Ellington did nothing but play the piano, he would be a giant.

Contents

I Can't Get Started; Cong-Go; Body and Soul; Blues for Jerry; Fontainebleau Forest; Summertime; It's Bad to Be Forgotten; A Hundred Dreams Ago; So; Searching (Pleading for Love); Springtime in Africa; Lotus Blossom; All the Things You Are*; Piano Improvisation Nos. 1-4.

(*Includes alternate take.)

Duke Ellington, Piano; Aaron Bell, James Woode, Basses; Sam Woodyard, Drums.

CD Special Features

Jazz Masterpiece!