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This isn’t the most adventurous album you will find by Ellington, maybe Columbia was on him to generate some cash as this is mostly mellow ballads possibly for background music, but I certainly wouldn’t lower this to the level of ‘easy listening’. As usual, Ellington’s orchestrations are just incredible, absolutely no one gets the sound out of an orchestra that he does. Likewise the players on here are tops and all the melodic horn solos carry the charismatic flavor of jazz at this time. Of particular note is Johnny Hodges sax melody on the soulful ‘Prelude to a Kiss‘.
Despite the album having a certain mellow mood, Ellington still can not resist the urge to experiment. The version of ‘Autumn Leaves’ on here is odd and abstract as trumpeter Ray Nance takes up the violin and improvises the melody against stark low pedal tones in the brass until vocalist Ozzie Bailey enters to a similar accompaniment. Possible the oddest arrangement of this old standard ever.
This album may be slightly commercial, but it still has that Ellington magic and his soloists play with that relaxed swing and provide heavily nuanced solos that no one today can seem to imitate. If you like Ellington in a mellow mood you will probably enjoy this one.
