Ellington 10-CD set

[Milestones]

A few years ago I bought this set for about 17 bucks and it covers Ellington's best years.  The label seems to be "Documents" and stems from Germany.  It may be roughly chronological in presentation.  The obscure "Swingtime in Honolulu" is track 3 of disc #1.  By disc #3 we are hitting the great works form the 1940s.   

Too many tracks with vocals, but still a real treasure trove.

Just the discs--no info booklet.

Anyone familiar with this?

  

[Stompin at the Savoy]

This?  https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/zcQAAOSwiJJjRJze/s-l1600.jpg

 

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/MjQAAOSw~H1jRJzg/s-l1600.jpg

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Stompin at the Savoy

[Milestones]

Yes, that's it.

[Big Beat Steve]

Here is the full track listing for those who want to check and compare:

https://www.discogs.com/de/release/12812646-Duke-Ellington-Duke-Ellington

After a rough check with other reissues, this 10-CD set seems to be chronological indeed, starting in 1938 and continuing to c.1945. But after a quick comparison with the CD series below it seems to be far from complete.

https://www.discogs.com/de/release/5679460-Duke-Ellington-And-His-Orchestra-The-Duke-Edward-Kennedy-Ellington

I have three 2-CD sets from that series (bought secondhand as "chance purchases" but as it happened they did fill a gap among those CBS 2-LP sets I was missing). Since the Duke Ellington discography from that period had been prepared well by the "Complete" RCA and CBS reissue series in the vinyl era the groundwork was laid for Public Domain labels to pick up and recycle the material later on.

[mjzee]

6 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Here is the full track listing for those who want to check and compare:

https://www.discogs.com/de/release/12812646-Duke-Ellington-Duke-Ellington

After a rough check with other reissues, this 10-CD set seems to be chronological indeed, starting in 1938 and continuing to c.1945. But after a quick comparison with the CD series below it seems to be far from complete.

https://www.discogs.com/de/release/5679460-Duke-Ellington-And-His-Orchestra-The-Duke-Edward-Kennedy-Ellington

I have three 2-CD sets from that series (bought secondhand as "chance purchases" but as it happened they did fill a gap among those CBS 2-LP sets I was missing). Since the Duke Ellington discography from that period had been prepared well by the "Complete" RCA and CBS reissue series in the vinyl era the groundwork was laid for Public Domain labels to pick up and recycle the material later on.

I have the 40-CD box mentioned above.  The 10-CD box is sort of a subset of the 40-CD, but is indeed missing a lot.  Strangely enough, the 40-CD box skipped three sessions from 1939: 

October 14, 1939. Chicago.

ARC-Brunswick recording session.

Johnny Hodges & His Orchestra: Cootie Williams, t; Lawrence Brown, tb; Johnny Hodges, as, ss; Harry Carney, bs; Duke Ellington, p; Billy Taylor, b; Sonny Greer, d; Billy Strayhorn replaces Ellington on "Skunk Hollow Blues" & "Tired Socks."

 

WM1096-A	Vocalion 5533	C39v2:21 SGS:7/8	Skunk Hollow Blues
WM1097-A	Vocalion 5353	C39v2:22 SGS:7/9	I Know What You Do
WM1098-A	Okeh 5940	C39v2:23 SGS:7/10	Your Love Has Faded
WM1099-A	Vocalion 5533	C39v2:24 SGS:7/11	Tired Socks

October 16, 1939. Chicago.

ARC-Brunswick recording session.

Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra: Rex Stewart, c; Wallace Jones, Cootie Williams, t; Lawrence Brown, Joe Nanton, tb; Juan Tizol, vtb; Barney Bigard, cl, ts; Johnny Hodges, as, ss; Otto Hardwick, as, cl; Harry Carney, bs, cl, as; Billy Strayhorn, p; Fred Guy, g; Billy Taylor, b; Sonny Greer, d. Duke Ellington replaces Strayhorn on "Country Gal."

 

WM1106-A	Columbia 35640	C39-40:3	Killing Myself  Ivie Anderson, Billy Strayhorn, vocal
WM1107-A	Columbia 35640	C39-40:4	Your Love Has Faded  Ivie Anderson, vocal
WM1108-A	Columbia 35776	C39-40:5 EsCo:1/22	Country Gal

 

November 22, 1939. Chicago.

ARC-Brunswick recording session. 

Barney Bigard & His Orchestra: Rex Stewart, c; Juan Tizol, vtb; Barney Bigard, cl; Harry Carney, bs; Billy Strayhorn, p; Jimmie Blanton, b; Sonny Greer, d.

 

WM1117-A	Vocalion 5378	C39-40:6 SGS:7/14	Minuet In Blues
WM1118-A	Vocalion 5422	C39-40:7 SGS:7/15	Lost In Two Flats
WM1119-A	Okeh 5663	C39-40:8 SGS:7/16	Honey Hush

 

There may be additional missing sessions.  I was able to find most of these tracks on archive.org.

[Big Beat Steve]

Yes, I did notice that too. These missing sessions make up part of Vol. 15 of the Complete Duke Ellington vinyl twofers on (French) CBS. One of the two from that series still missing missing in my collection. (Vol. 14 - also missing - is on the 2-CD sets from the "The Duke" series that I do have so that's settled)