"DIY By Ellington: Duke Ellington's Mercer Records Label"

[ghost of miles]

A new show with a tip of the hat to the forum somewhere way downstream... this turned into quite an accompanying web post, with a deep dive from a couple of Ellingtonians into the evolution of what we now know as "Lotus Blossom." But mostly, just wanting to highlight some of the lovely and compelling small-group music that was made for this artist-owned label by Ellington and others in the Ellington orbit such as Johnny Hodges, Al Hibbler, and Oscar Pettiford, with Billy Strayhorn directing most of the sessions:

DIY By Ellington: Duke Ellington's Mercer Records Label

Happy DKE Day, an hour or so early.

[Jim Duckworth]

The Billy Strayhorn All Stars sessions on Mercer are tremendous.

 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Some of this material made it to CD on the OJC label:

I never did pick that CD up. I'm not usually a fan of the head/solo/head 2 & a half minute stuff from the 78 era. Looking at this, maybe I should re-think that.

[jazzbo]

I get that but the solos and melodies are worth it for me. I have a lot of the Mercer material on Chronogical Classics cds.

Edited Thursday at 11:05 PM by jazzbo

[ghost of miles]

4 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

Some of this material made it to CD on the OJC label:

I never did pick that CD up. I'm not usually a fan of the head/solo/head 2 & a half minute stuff from the 78 era. Looking at this, maybe I should re-think that.

This is the CD that inspired me to do the show. I bought it many years ago while I was in the midst of exploring the various DKE small-group recordings, both those made under the Ellington moniker and apart. A few months ago I pulled it off the shelf when I was in a Hodges mood and remembered that all of the dates were made for either Sunrise or Mercer. That inspired me to pull the Great Times! cd, which gathers all of the Ellington-Strayhorn duets and Oscar Pettiford sides recorded for Mercer) off the shelf as well. All of it put together seemed like a fascinating and diverse small-group chapter of Ellingtonia, all recorded on DKE's own label. And don't sleep on some of singer Al Hibbler's recordings for Mercer, two of which I included in the show, drawn from the Al Hibbler 1950-52 Chronologic Classics CD. 

When I posted that I was working on this show in a Duke Ellington Facebook group, another member mentioned that Jasmine was just about to put out a single CD devoted to Ellington's Mercer label recordings. I managed to get a copy of it before producing the Night Lights episode, and the sound does seem marginally improved.

 

 

 

On 5/14/2025 at 3:05 PM, Jim Duckworth said:

The Billy Strayhorn All Stars sessions on Mercer are tremendous.

 

As a great man by the name of Sy Oliver once said, "Yes, indeed!"

[miles65]

And part of it is Great Times Duke Ellington Billy Strayhorn (OJCCD 108-2).

I love this CD but it would have been even better if it had been a 2 CD set with the vocal tracks on CD 2. 

All recordings are on Duke Ellington Classics 1191 1949-1950, 1217 1950, 1258 1950-1951, 1282 1951 and 1300 Al Hibler 1950-1952.

The Alternate take of Moonlight Fiesta is on the Prestige CD.

[romualdo]

A Mercer Mosaic has been previously discussed here - how many discs would that involve - enough material for the box Rx?