Duke Ellington, Blues in Orbit - 1h 1m 36s

Tracks & Durations

1. Three J's Blues	2:54
2. Smada	2:38
3. Pie Eye's Blues	3:27
4. Sweet & Pungent	4:03
5. C Jam Blues	4:52
6. In A Mellow Tone	2:43
7. Blues In Blueprint	3:43
8. The Swingers Get The Blues, Too	3:09
9. The Swinger's Jump	3:53
10. Blues In Orbit	2:29
11. Villes Ville Is The Place, Man	2:33
12. Track 360	2:03
13. Sentimental Lady	4:02
14. Brown Penny	3:02
15. Pie Eye's Blues (Alternate Take)	3:32
16. Sweet & Pungent (Alternate Take)	3:52
17. The Swinger's Jump (Alternate Take)	3:51
18. Blues In Orbit (Alternate Take)	2:39
19. Track 360 (Alternate Take)	2:00

Note: The information about this album is acquired from the publicly available resources and we are not responsible for their accuracy.

Review

The atmospheric, floating quality (see title) of the production and the mysterious, airy, and sparse arrangements make this album an overlooked gem in the Ellington catalog. Two of the tracks were cut in 1958 utilizing the full 15-piece orchestra: the slow-moving blues of the title track, where the leader's eerie piano fills answer the statements of the full band, and "Track 360," a dramatic aural representation of a train wreck. The remainder of the CD (minus one other track) was recorded with slightly smaller configurations at two midnight sessions in December of the following year. Ray Nance (the only trumpet because of band restructuring) and especially Johnny Hodges offer the most rewarding solo contributions of the date, many of which stand alongside their best ever. Hodges's magnificently fragile and seductive alto graces "Brown Penny" and handles both delicate and driving passages with aplomb on Billy Strayhorn's "Smada" (with the composer in the piano chair) while Nance belts out the bridge. The band also revisits earlier classics from the Ellington songbook: Nance shows his violin prowess on "C Jam Blues" before growling through "In a Mellotone"; "Sentimental Lady" is in Hodges's capable caress. --Marc Greilsamer

Other Versions

Albums are mined from the various public resources and can be actually the same but different in the tracks length only. We are keeping all versions now.

Blues in Orbit

Tracks: 14 (-5 tracks), Disk length: 45m 38s (-16m 2s)

Blues in Orbit

Tracks: 14 (-5 tracks), Disk length: 45m 37s (-16m 1s)

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