Other bands have played Ellington’s music, but none ever made anything remotely like this vast, untidy, glorious noise. It’s a live concert recording, from late in his career, full of the loose ends and inconsistencies that came along with his genius, but there were always sublime moments and you’ll find plenty here. The band contains some of his greatest sidemen, notably Johnny Hodges, Cootie Williams, Harry Carney and Lawrence Brown, all in superb form. Hodges, who was to die suddenly six months later, surpasses himself. But it’s the whole band, relaxed almost to the point of sloppiness, that produces that inimitable sound, the huge bearlike growl that, heard live, seemed to engulf the entire hall.
