Duke Ellington & John Coltrane

Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
Studio album by Duke Ellington and John Coltrane
Released	February 1963[1]
Recorded	September 26, 1962 Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs
Genre	Jazz
Length	35:05
Label	Impulse! A-30
Producer	Bob Thiele
Duke Ellington chronology
Money Jungle (1963) Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (1963) Afro-Bossa (1963)
John Coltrane chronology
Coltrane (1962) Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (1963) Ballads (1963)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Down Beat	[3]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[4]

Duke Ellington & John Coltrane is a jazz album by Duke Ellington and John Coltrane recorded on September 26, 1962, and released in February 1963 on Impulse! Records.^[5]

For Ellington, it was one of many collaborations with fellow jazz-greats in the early 1960s, including Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Max Roach, and Charles Mingus, and placed him in a jazz quartet setting (in this case, saxophone, piano, bass, and drums), rather than his usual one in a big band.^[6]

For Coltrane, it was an opportunity to work with one of jazz's all-time greats. It was one of several albums he recorded in the early 1960s in a more conservative and accessible style, including John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman and Ballads. Despite their differences in background, style, and age – Ellington was 63 and Coltrane 36 when the tracks were recorded – it has been said that the two interacted seamlessly and subtly, neither one outshining the other.

The quartet was filled out by the bassist and drummer from either of their bands. The album featured Ellington standards (e.g., "In a Sentimental Mood"), new Ellington compositions, and a new Coltrane composition ("Big Nick").^[7]

Coltrane said:

I was really honoured to have the opportunity of working with Duke. It was a wonderful experience. He has set standards I haven't caught up with yet. I would have liked to have worked over all those numbers again, but then I guess the performances wouldn't have had the same spontaneity. And they mightn't have been any better!^[8]

Track listing

1. "In a Sentimental Mood" – 4:14
     (Duke Ellington)
2. "Take The Coltrane" – 4:42
     (Ellington)
3. "Big Nick" – 4:30
     (John Coltrane)
4. "Stevie" – 4:22
     (Ellington)
5. "My Little Brown Book" – 5:20
     (Billy Strayhorn)
6. "Angelica" – 6:00
     (Ellington)
7. "The Feeling of Jazz" – 5:34
     (Bobby Troup/Ellington/George T. Simon)

Personnel

• Duke Ellington - piano
• John Coltrane - tenor (all but 3) and soprano (3) saxophones
• Jimmy Garrison - bass (2, 3, 6)
• Aaron Bell - bass (1, 4, 5, 7)
• Elvin Jones - drums (1-3, 6)
• Sam Woodyard - drums (4, 5, 7)

References

1. Billboard Feb 9, 1963
2. Allmusic review
3. DeMicheal, Don (March 28, 1963). Down Beat: 112. Missing or empty |title= (help)
4. Swenson, J. (Editor) (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 69. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
5. Billboard, February 9, 1963, p. 28.
6. "Duke Ellington: 'Duke Ellington & John Coltrane'". NPR. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
7. "John Coltrane". WARR. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
8. Excerpt from the CD booklet