Koko by Duke Ellington

[Teasing the Korean]

I thought this topic may have come up in another thread but I couldn't find it with the search engine.

Did Ellington ever revisit this tune after the original recording in the early 1940s? I have tons of Duke Ellington but I have only the one version of this classic.

I realize that if Duke kept revisiting everything, he would have no time or space for new tunes, but it is kind of surprising that this one fell through the cracks.

Is this a case of something being fully recognized only in retrospect?

[jeffcrom]

He didn't revisit "Ko-Ko" often, but he did a few times. The ones I know about are:

Fargo, North Dakota, November 7, 1940

Carnegie Hall, January 23, 1943

Historically Speaking, Bethlehem label, February, 1956.

There are probably others.

[medjuck]

The New DESOR lists 16 recorded performances of Koko . (Has anyone ever worked out what percentage of EKE performances were recorded by someone? Later in his career it seems that nearly every time he played someone had a recorder there.)

[JSngry]

The Bethlehem is the only studio version i know of. I think it's a fascinatingly self-destructively performance, perhaps intentionally?

That side seems to have infuriated many people in its time, and I can understand that, but not consistently, and me...I come at it from a way after-the-fact POV. But that "KoKo" on that album is just kinkyweirdbad.

[Clunky]

The Bethlehem is the only studio version i know of. I think it's a fascinatingly self-destructively performance, perhaps intentionally?

That side seems to have infuriated many people in its time, and I can understand that, but not consistently, and me...I come at it from a way after-the-fact POV. But that "KoKo" on that album is just kinkyweirdbad.

Each to his own but I've always loved the Bethlehem version of Ko Ko. Came across it early into my jazz listening on a Charly comp CD which also introduced me to quite a number of artists .

[John Tapscott]

Not exactly what you're asking about, but Mercer recorded Koko shortly after Duke's passing on this one. I'm sure the Ellington experts will dismiss it but I think it's at least OK. In fact, I think that overall the band plays rather decently on this one.

[Teasing the Korean]

Thanks all. I don't understand the controversy about the Bethlehem version.

[kh1958]

Koko is also performed on Treasury Shows, volume 14.

[Larry Kart]

Thanks all. I don't understand the controversy about the Bethlehem version.

The "controversy" arose because Andre Hodeir wrote a censorious piece that went into some detail about what a travesty of the great original performances (and "Koko" in particular) the performances on the Bethlehem album were.

[JSngry]

The Bethlehem version is pretty steamroller-ish, too fast, not a lot of nuance, just playitandgetitoverwithNEXT. Eccentric as hell, and those type things are usually humorous to me, but in the case of "KoKo", I've never understood what was looking to be gained by doing that. The rest of the Bethlehem album is ok or better to me, but that one piece...seriously WTF-ish.