Such Sweet Thunder
| Such Sweet Thunder | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra | ||||
| Released | April 1957 or May 1957 | |||
| Recorded | August 7, 1956 – May 3, 1957 | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 76:25 | |||
| Label | Columbia/Legacy | |||
| Producer |
Irving Townsend - Original Recording Phil Schaap - Reissue | |||
| Duke Ellington and his Orchestra chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Such Sweet Thunder is a Duke Ellington album, released in 1957. The record is a twelve part suite based on the work of William Shakespeare.
Track listing
- "Such Sweet Thunder" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 3:22
- "Sonnet for Caesar" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 3:00
- "Sonnet to Hank Cinq" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 1:24
- "Lady Mac" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 3:41
- "Sonnet in Search of a Moor" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 2:22
- "The Telecasters" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 3:05
- "Up and Down, Up and Down (I Will Lead Them Up and Down)" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 3:09
- "Sonnet for Sister Kate" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 2:24
- "The Star-Crossed Lovers" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 4:00
- "Madness in Great Ones" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 3:26
- "Half the Fun" (Also known as "Lately") (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 4:19
- "Circle of Fourths" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 1:45
Bonus tracks
- "The Star-Crossed Lovers" (Also known as "Pretty Girl") (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 4:15
- "Circle of Fourths" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 1:47
- "Suburban Beauty" (Ellington) - 2:56
- "A-Flat Minor" (Ellington) - 2:33
- "Café au Lait" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 2:49
- "Half the Fun" (Alternate take) (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 4:08
- "Suburban Beauty" (Alternate take) (Ellington) - 2:56
- "A-Flat Minor" (Outtake) (Ellington) - 3:49
- "Café au Lait" (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 6:21
- "Pretty Girl" (Also known as the "Star-Crossed Lovers") (Outtake) (Ellington, Strayhorn) - 8:54
Production/reissue credits
Musicians
- Jimmy Hamilton - Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone
- Johnny Hodges - Alto Saxophone
- Russell Procope - Clarinet, Alto Saxophone
- Paul Gonsalves - Tenor Saxophone
- Harry Carney - Bass Clarinet, Baritone Saxophone
- Cat Anderson - Trumpet
- Clark Terry - Trumpet
- Ray Nance - Trumpet
- Willie Cook - Trumpet
- Quentin Jackson - Trombone
- John Sanders - Trombone
- Britt Woodman - Trombone
- Jimmy Woode - Bass
- Duke Ellington - Piano
- Sam Woodyard - Drums
- Billy Strayhorn - Orchestration
Production
- Irving Townsend - Liner Notes, Original Recording Producer
- Phil Schaap - Liner Notes, Reissue Producer, Remastering, Research, Restoration. (No reissue retains Clark Terry's quotation, on the original LP release, of Puck's "Lord, what fools these mortals be!")
- Steven Berkowitz - A&R
- Darren Salmieri - A&R
- Mark Wilder - Digital Mastering
- Howard Fritzson - Art Direction
- Don Hunstein - Photography
- Randall Martin - Design
- Juliana Myrick - Package Manager
Critical Reception
NPR has included this album on their Basic Jazz Record Library.[2] The Penguin Guide to Jazz gave the album 4 stars (out of a possible 4.) Allmusic gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars.
References
Bibliography (further reading)
Contemporary reviews and journalism
- “Ellington Suite to Bow April 28” New York Times. 15 April 1957.
- Parmenter, Ross. “Music: Weill and the Duke.” New York Times 29 April 1957.
- “New Ellington Suite Hailed By Coast-to-Coast Audience.” Daily Defender. 2 July 1957.
- Wilson, John S. “Duke Bounces Back With Provocative Work.” New York Times. 13 Oct. 1957. esp 113
- Wilson, John S. “Jazz: Ellington.” New York Times 13 October 1957.
Historical and analytical writings (in reverse chronological order)
- Bradbury, David. Duke Ellington. London: Haus, 2005. Esp. pp. 91.
- Lanier, Douglas. “To Be-Bop or Not to Be-Bop; Minstrelsy, Jazz, Rap: Shakespeare, African American Music, and Cultural Legitimation.” Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation Vol. 1, 2005 [no pagination].
- Buhler, Stephen M. “Form and Character in Duke Ellington’s and Billy Strayhorn’s Such Sweet Thunder.” Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation Vol. 1, 2005 [no pagination].
- Nicholson, Stuart. Reminiscing in Tempo: A Portrait of Duke Ellington. Northeastern University Press, 1999, esp. pp. ???-???.
- Lambert, Eddie. Duke Ellington: A Listener’s Guide. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1999. Esp. pp. 193–194.
- Kernfeld, Barry. New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. St. Martin’s Press, 1994. esp 331
- Hasse, John Edward. Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.
- Tucker, Mark. The Duke Ellington Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Esp. pp. 321, 441. esp. pp. 339–341, 393
- Harrison, Max. “Max Harrison: Some Reflections on Ellington’s Longer Works. The Duke Ellington Reader. Tucker, Mark, ed. (esp. pg.393).
- Crouch, Stanley. “Stanley Crouch on Such Sweet Thunder, Suite Thursday, and Anatomy of a Murder.” The Duke Ellington Reader. Tucker, Mark, ed. (esp. 339, 441).
- Hasse, John. Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1993. Esp. pp. 331–333, 362.
- Timmer, W.E. Ellingtonia: The recorded music of Duke Ellington and his sidemen. Metuchen, N.J.: Institute of Jazz Studies: Scarecrow Press, 1988. Esp. pp. 450.
- Marsalis, Wynton. “What Jazz is and Isn’t.” New York Times. 31, July 1988.
- Ellington, Mercer. Duke Ellington in Person: An Intimate Memoir. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1978. Esp. pp. 117.
- Ellington, Duke. Music is My Mistress. New York: Da Capo Press, 1976, c1973. Esp. pp. 192.