Feb
22
Review: Duke Ellington – Money Jungle (1962)
Filed Under Reviews
Duke Ellington. Charles Mingus. Max Roach.
Could you ask for a better trio, not at all.
In 1962, Duke Ellington’s period with Columbia Records was at an end and this allowed Duke to work with musicians on a multitude of labels. This includes great sessions with John Coltrane and Coleman Hawkins, both which were released on Impluse, but the grand-daddy of them all is Money Jungle.
Each of the three performers are at the top of their game; the Duke’s composing and musicianship is marvelous as usual, Charles Mingus was only a year away from releasing his historic album, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady and Max Roach had just recently released his magnum opus We Insist! – Freedom Now Suite, an artifact both of jazz and the civil rights movement. Along with being an album by an amazing trio, Money Jungle, is also somewhat of a reunion
session. For Duke Ellington is playing with the man (Charles Mingus) whom he fired after an altercation in which Mingus pulled a gun on a fellow band mate. But, Mingus also had a rich history with Max Roach for they were both part of and recorded the historic Quintet at Massey Hall, that also included Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie, on their short lived Debut label.
Money Jungle starts off with an aggressive self-titled romp, in which you find the Duke playing a complex form of bop more reminiscence of free jazz than the work of Charlie Parker. The next track you’ll hear the rhythm section (Mingus, Roach) sparsely as Duke Ellington takes over on the beautiful and somewhat eerie, “Le Fleurs Africaines”. The rest of Side A is less adventurous with one upbeat blues piece and lovely ballad.
The opposite side starts off with “Wig Wise” another piece with an angular melody that Ellington initially wrote in the 1950′s. This song and another revamped rendition “Caravan” both find there way on a Blue Note compilation of Ellington’s work (which is strange considering he never recorded for Blue Note, but the major label owning the work EMI released it under Blue Note for sales purposes). Sadly the album, ends all too early with the sweet, but somber “Solitude”.
Though only a little more than a half an hour, this album is a lovely display of Duke Ellington’s non-big band prowess and 1960′s revival. That is not to forget the wonderful work of Charles Mingus and Max Roach, but throughout the entire album they seem timid in comparison to their performances on other albums . Nevertheless, Money Jungle is an absolute gem and I am a lucky man to have found an original United Artist’s copy. It might be too cerebral and complex at first listen, but if you take your time and give the album a fair chance you’ll fall in love with it.
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