The recording career of Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was so ridiculously prodigious it is daunting for the uninitiated to figure out a place to dive in. A century’s worth of record company mergers or back catalog sales, numerous reissue programs dating all the way back to the birth of the LP and a long tail of posthumous “new” releases can at times make untangling what is actually on any given LP a challenge. Of course, in the world of Ellington, nearly anything one chooses to sample will be rewarding musically, even if it’s not the “best”-sounding or sequenced version of the material.
A perfect case in point is Columbia Records late 1980s Ellington reissues, most of which were part of the label’s “Columbia Jazz Masterpieces” series. Anyone who has dug through a bin of used jazz records (or CDs) is familiar with these reissues, with dark blue borders and the legend “Digitally remastered directly from the original analog tapes” in all caps along the top. At the time the series was welcome for the simple reason it brought many classic albums into the then fairly new CD format; the digital remasters also made it to vinyl through about 1990 (the series lasted until the mid-’90s). However, the reputation of these discs has never been sterling due to complaints about the sound; tellingly, for many artists the blue-border reissues were discontinued when the series ended, and Sony commenced a second round of reissues featuring a new mastering job.
Sound quality aside, the vinyl collector should keep an eye out for the CJM reissues, as they occasionally include material not on the original albums; I’ve had copies of both the Ellington Jazz Party and Ellington Indigos reissues for some time due to the appearance of extra tracks. To my ears, they always sounded fine, so upon running across a cache of more Ellington CJM-series reissues in the dollar bin, I had to pick them up and check them out for myself. For curiosity’s sake, when I had a comparable original LP I also did some unscientific jumping back and forth between discs to see how the sound compares, while listening on headphones.
The short answer: In general, the reissues just don’t sound as good as the original 1950s LPs. But I would not say any of the Ellington discs I sampled were bad sounding, either. To me they just sound like ’80s digital, slightly flat and occasionally harsh in some elements (the brass on some of these LPs sounds pretty crusty, for example). The series also earns few points for historical accuracy: In addition to the occasional bonus material, some albums are remixed, and many also have completely different, chintzy cover art. In their favor: If you find them these reissues are likely to be in good condition and very affordable, two points that do not always go together for original copies. The pressing quality is also consistently excellent, so listeners with a low threshold for surface noise will be pleased. For more detailed comparison info about specific albums, read on:
Ellington Uptown
This is one of several Ellington Columbia albums to have alternate releases even in the 1950s; I compared a blue-cover, gray label six-eye Masterworks LP (ML 4639, 1C/1C stampers) including “A Tone Parallel to Harlem” to the CJM issue. According to posters at Steve Hoffman Music Forums, the Masterworks LP was cut pre-RIAA equalization curve, so comparing these sonically is apples-oranges right off the bat. To my ears the Masterworks has good tonal balance and clarity but is maybe a tad flat-sounding; I remember from prior listening sessions, though, that this version comes alive when it’s cranked up over speakers. On direct comparison the CJM LP sounds somewhat muddy and tubby, particularly in the bass. Essentially, it sounds nice on the quiet parts but gets weirdly pinched sounding when the whole band is cooking. It does get bonus points for including all the tracks from the differing vintage LP versions (both parts of “The Controversial Suite,” substituted for “Tone Parallel” when the LP was reissued as Hi-Fi Ellington Uptown). In fact, the two parts of “Controversial” sound a bit better than the rest of the reissue LP to my ears. One funny side note: The side two label reads “This tape consist of previously released material.” (CJ 40836)
Ellington at Newport
Again, the CJM sounds slightly muddy, but in this case it seems more in line with the sound you might expect from any garden-variety reissue of a 30-year-old album rather than a muffed mastering job. Of course, the pressing is top notch, so if you want a dead-quiet copy that sounds okay, this is going to be far easier than finding an original that’s a dead-quiet player. There are good new notes from Stanley Dance on the reissue, who was probably mortified by the misspelled “Harry H. Karney” in the credits if he saw the finished LP. For comparison I used an original six-eye label, 1B/1A stampers. (CJ 40587)
Blues in Orbit
Horns, piano and drums sound beautiful on the original, but the bass comes across as a bit "waffly" at times — on this copy, at least. The reissue just sounds less lively, but is not bad overall; some songs sound nice, some are more muddy and “digital” than others. The reissue gets bonus points for adding additional material but negative points for rearranging the track lineup for unexplained reasons. Comparison LP: six-eye stereo, 1A/1J stampers. (CJ 44051)
Ellington Indigos
This sounds to my ears to be one of the better CJM Ellingtons, sounding nice and full other than the occasional distortion when the brass really kicks in. It compares fairly well to the original copy I have, but as that copy is from several years after release and not in ideal condition, it’s not a sonic winner itself. It sounded to me like some remixing may have taken place for the reissue, and indeed the back cover lists a digital remix engineer. There is one unedited take and one unreleased number added to the original stereo track lineup...but, oddly, an extra track on the original mono release (omitted from vintage stereo copies for technical reasons), “The Sky Fell Down,” is still not appended to this stereo release. And as with some of the other discs in the series, the track order is jumbled. However, even on original release Indigos was discographically confusing — along with the extra track on mono LPs the mono and stereo mixes featured different takes — it at least feels appropriate for yet another alternate version to appear. Comparison LP: six-eye stereo, 3BG/1AH stampers. (CJ 44444)
Ellington Jazz Party
In this case, I only have the mono original, which is a good-sounding LP. The original stereo discs are somewhat uncommon and these days a well-known favorite of audiophiles, so they don’t turn up too often. The reissue LP sounds okay on its own, but as with Indigos is at times a bit distorted in the brass to my ears. Coincidentally, this one is easily spotted as a remix, as the original’s audience track is removed. The reissue also includes a pair of bonus tracks from the same session. (CJ 40712)