Black, Brown and Beige

by Duke Ellington, Duke Ellington & His Orchestra

Overview

Duke Ellington originally wrote the 50-minute Black, Brown and Beige in 1943 for a Carnegie Hall concert, where critics dismissed it as overreaching for a jazz composer. Over the next 15 years, he periodically resurrected it for performances of excerpts or, as in the case of his 1958 Columbia album, transmuting it into what was essentially a new work. Columbia's Black, Brown and Beige was one of the most extraordinary products of Ellington's second stay with the label, growing out of his 1956 Newport triumph, and it was received somewhat more readily than the original 1943 "Black, Brown and Beige." The main problem for those who knew the piece and its history lay in the absence of Johnny Hodges, who was hardly ever with the Ellington band during 1958, and on whose talents "Come Sunday," the centerpiece of the original work and even more the core of the revamped Black, Brown and Beige, was built. Instead, Mahalia Jackson sings a version of "Come Sunday" that is, if anything, equally affecting, backed by the orchestra led by Ray Nance's violin. The result on the original album was a piece that started off in big band-style blues and led to one of Ellington's most moving, wrenching pieces of work, and music that, had it been better known, might also have done more to raise people's consciousness about Civil Rights than 100 folk songs of the period. ~ Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	11/17/2017
Label:	Wax Time
UPC:	8436559463454
Rank:	53342

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Duke Ellington   Primary Artist,Piano
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra   Primary Artist
Mahalia Jackson   Primary Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Ray Nance   Featured Artist,Violin,Trumpet
Andres Merenghito   Trumpet
Bill Graham   Sax (Alto)
Paul Gonsalves   Sax (Tenor)
Shorty Baker   Trumpet
Sonny Greer   Drums
Jimmy Woode   Bass
Clark Terry   Trumpet
Russell Procope   Clarinet,Sax (Alto)
Cat Anderson   Trumpet
Wendell Marshall   Bass
Sam Woodyard   Drums
Jimmy Hamilton   Clarinet,Sax (Tenor)
John Sanders   Trombone (Valve)
Billy Strayhorn   Piano
Quentin Jackson   Trombone
Mercer Ellington   French Horn
Johnny Hodges   Sax (Alto)
Britt Woodman   Trombone
Nelson Williams   Trumpet
Lawrence Brown   Trombone
Tyree Glenn   Trombone
Yvonne Lanauze   Vocals
Harry Carney   Clarinet (Bass),Sax (Baritone),Clarinet
Willie Cook   Trumpet

Technical Credits

Richard Pete   Liner Notes
Irving Mills   Composer
Irving Townsend   Liner Notes
Duke Ellington   Composer,Narrator
Billy Strayhorn   Composer
Mitchell Parish   Composer
Barney Bigard   Composer
Jim Matheos   Composer