js “This is Duke Ellington” is a nice vinyl collection of the Duke’s work on RCA that spans the very beginning of his career and up to the mid 40s. This two LP set was never re-issued on CD (only 8 track, ha), but it can be found at a very low price on the internet or at your local used record store. If you have ever wanted some classic Ellington on vinyl, this may be the way to go because the original LPs will cost you an arm and a leg. A real nice plus here is that they left the recordings in their original mono format, no cheezy fake “re-channeled stereo” to weaken the sound.

For long time Ellington fans this collection probably has way too many well worn favorites, but for someone looking for an introduction or an overview, this set represents some of his most popular works. Sets like this, that place the tunes in chronological order, are invaluable for those who are curious about jazz’s development over the years. Over the course of these two LPs you can hear Ellington’s roots in the classic 1920s grow and expand during the swing era and then reach further abstraction in the mid 40s. What is missing from this set is Ellington’s more experimental longer works that take place later in his career, but there are plenty of exhaustive CD sets out there that get into all that, “This is Duke Ellington” is all about his hits.

There are plenty of highlights on here, but one standout is Ellington’s original “Caravan”. I’ve heard so many covers of this tune that I forgot how sublime the original is. Way ahead of its time, “Caravan’ introduced exotica before the genre had a name and borders on the avant-garde, especially for 1945. You can imagine young artists like Sun Ra and Les Baxter hearing this for the first time and recognizing a world of possibilities. Easily one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, Ellington stretched the blues into an abstract harmonic language that permeates modern music with its noire urban vibe. From early period saxophone driven King Crimson to latter period big band/RnB Prince, and of course including so many jazz innovators from Mingus to Don Ellis, Ellington is the beginning.