This is the discography of recordings by Duke Ellington, including those nominally led by his sidemen (mainly in the 1930s and early 1940s), and his later collaborations (mainly in the 1960s) with musicians with whom Ellington had generally not previously recorded.
Listed here are all compilations released during Ellington's lifetime, in addition to all significant compilations, excluding the aforementioned [na 1] box sets.
Year | Title | Label | Date recorded | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1943 | Ellingtonia, Vol. One | Brunswick | 1927–1931 | 4 × 78 RPM |
1944 | Ellingtonia, Vol. Two | Brunswick | 1928–1931 | 4 × 78 RPM |
1955 | The Duke and His Men | |||
1955 | Here's the Duke | Columbia | ||
1955 | Duke's Mixture | Columbia | ||
1956 | In a Mellotone | RCA Victor | 1940–1942 | |
1959 [3] | Ellington Moods | Jazz Legacy | ||
The Duke's D.J. Special | Fresh Sound Records | |||
1964 | Daybreak Express | |||
1964 | Great Times! | Riverside | with Billy Strayhorn | |
1965 | Jumpin' Punkins | RCA Victor | 1940–1941 | |
1967 [4] | Johnny Come Lately | |||
1968 | Duke Ellington's Greatest Hits | Columbia | ||
Posthumous compilations | ||||
1982 | The Girl's Suite and The Perfume Suite | Columbia | 1957 & 1961 | |
1985 | Happy Reunion | Sony | 1958 | two sessions from 1958 |
1986 [5] | The Blanton–Webster Band | RCA/Bluebird | 1940–1942 | |
1987 | Studio Sessions, Chicago 1956 | LMR | 1956 | The Private Sessions Volume One |
1987 | Dance Concerts, California 1958 | LMR | 1958 | The Private Sessions Volume Two |
1987 | Studio Sessions, New York, 1962 | LMR | 1962 | The Private Collection Volume Three |
1987 | Studio Sessions New York 1963 | LMR | 1963 | The Private Collection Volume Four |
1987 | Dance Dates, California 1958 | LMR | 1958 | The Private Sessions Volume Six |
1987 | Studio Sessions 1957 & 1962 | LMR | 1957, 1962 | The Private Collection Volume Seven |
1987 | Studio Sessions, 1957, 1965, 1966, 1967, San Francisco, Chicago, New York | LMR | 1957, 1965–1967 | The Private Collection Volume Eight |
1987 | Studio Sessions New York, 1968 | LMR | 1968 | The Private Collection Volume Nine |
1987 | Studio Sessions New York & Chicago, 1965, 1966 & 1971 | LMR | 1965–1967, 1971 | The Private Collection Volume Ten |
1988 | The Suites, New York 1968 & 1970 | LMR | 1968, 1970 | The Private Collection Volume Five |
1991 | Braggin' in Brass: The Immortal 1938 Year | Portrait | 1938 | |
1993 | Duke Ellington's Incidental Music for Shakespeare's Play Timon of Athens | adapted by Stanley Silverman; posthumous recordings of previously unreleased compositions | ||
2003 | Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band | Bluebird | 1940–1942 | from the Centennial set of 1999 |
The Duke Box 2 [6] | 1952–1972 | Storyville | 7-CD/1-DVD set | |
The Private Collection (1956–1971) | 1956–1971 | Saja | 10-CD set |
This section needs additional citations for verification .(December 2023) |
Year | Single | Chart positions | Footnotes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
US | US R&B | UK | |||
1927 | "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" | 10 | [na 2] | ||
1928 | "Black and Tan Fantasy" | 15 | |||
"Creole Love Call" | 19 | ||||
"Doin' the New Low Down" | 20 | ||||
"Diga Diga Doo" [7] | 17 | ||||
"The Mooche" | 16 | ||||
1930 | "Three Little Words" | 1 | |||
"Ring Dem Bells" | 17 | ||||
1931 | "Blue Again" | 12 | |||
"Mood Indigo" | 3 | ||||
"Rockin' in Rhythm" | 19 | ||||
"Creole Rhapsody Parts 1 & 2" | 18 | ||||
"Limehouse Blues" | 13 | ||||
1932 | "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" | 6 | |||
"Creole Rhapsody" (new version) | 19 | ||||
"Rose Room (in Sunny Roseland)" | 15 | ||||
"Moon over Dixie" | 14 | ||||
"Blue Ramble" | 16 | ||||
1933 | "Drop Me Off in Harlem" | 17 | |||
"Sophisticated Lady" | 3 | ||||
"Stormy Weather" | 4 | ||||
"I'm Satisfied" | 11 | ||||
"In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" | 13 | ||||
1934 | "Daybreak Express" | 20 | |||
"Cocktails for Two" | 1 | ||||
"Moon Glow" | 2 | ||||
"Solitude" | 2 | ||||
"Saddest Tale" | 9 | ||||
1935 | "Merry-Go-Round" | 6 | |||
"In a Sentimental Mood" | 14 | ||||
"Accent on Youth" | 6 | ||||
"Cotton" | 4 | ||||
1936 | "Isn't Love the Strangest Thing?" | 12 | |||
"Love Is Like a Cigarette" | 8 | ||||
"Clarinet Lament" | 12 | ||||
"Echoes of Harlem" | 19 | ||||
"Oh Babe! Maybe Someday" | 8 | ||||
"Jazz Lips" | 20 | ||||
"Yearning for Love" | 16 | ||||
1937 | "The New East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" | 16 | |||
"There's a Lull in My Life" | 12 | ||||
"Scattin' at the Kit Kat" | 9 | ||||
"Caravan" | 4 | ||||
"Azure" | 13 | ||||
"All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" | 14 | ||||
1938 | "Harmony in Harlem" | 15 | |||
"If You Were in My Place (What Would You Do?)" | 10 | ||||
"I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" | 1 | ||||
"The Gal from Joe's" | 20 | ||||
"Lambeth Walk" | 7 | ||||
"Prelude to a Kiss" | 18 | ||||
1940 | "You, You, Darlin'" | 28 | [na 3] | ||
"Ko Ko" | 25 | ||||
"At a Dixie Roadside Diner" | 27 | ||||
"Sepia Panorama" | 24 | ||||
1941 | "Flamingo" | 11 | |||
"Take the 'A' Train" | 11 | ||||
"I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good" | 13 | ||||
1942 | "Hayfoot, Strawfoot" | 10 | [na 4] | ||
1943 | "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" | 8 | 1 | ||
"Perdido" | 21 | ||||
"Take the 'A' Train" (re-entry) | 19 | ||||
"Bojangles" | 19 | ||||
"A Slip of the Lip" | 19 | 1 | |||
"Sentimental Lady" | 19 | 1 | |||
1944 | "Do Nothin' till You Hear from Me" | 10 | 1 | ||
"Main Stem" | 23 | 1 | |||
"My Little Brown Book" | 4 | ||||
"Someone" | 7 | ||||
"I Don't Mind" | 9 | ||||
1945 | "I'm Beginning to See the Light" | 6 | 4 | ||
"Don't You Know I Care" | 10 | ||||
"I Ain't Got Nothin' but the Blues" | 4 | ||||
1946 | "Come to Baby, Do" | 13 | |||
1948 | "Don't Be So Mean to Baby" | 15 | |||
1953 | "Satin Doll" | ||||
"Boo Dah" | 30 | ||||
1954 | "Skin Deep" | 7 |
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life.
John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on soprano saxophone, but refused to play soprano after 1946. Along with Benny Carter, Hodges is considered to be one of the definitive alto saxophone players of the big band era.
Albany Leon "Barney" Bigard was an American jazz clarinetist known for his 15-year tenure with Duke Ellington. He also played tenor saxophone.
Coleman Randolph Hawkins, nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. One of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument, as Joachim E. Berendt explained: "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn". Hawkins biographer John Chilton described the prevalent styles of tenor saxophone solos prior to Hawkins as "mooing" and "rubbery belches". Hawkins denied being first and noted his contemporaries Happy Caldwell, Stump Evans, and Prince Robinson, although he was the first to tailor his method of improvisation to the saxophone rather than imitate the techniques of the clarinet. Hawkins' virtuosic, arpeggiated approach to improvisation, with his characteristic rich, emotional, and vibrato-laden tonal style, was the main influence on a generation of tenor players that included Chu Berry, Charlie Barnet, Tex Beneke, Ben Webster, Vido Musso, Herschel Evans, Buddy Tate, and Don Byas, and through them the later tenormen, Arnett Cobb, Illinois Jacquet, Flip Phillips, Ike Quebec, Al Sears, Paul Gonsalves, and Lucky Thompson. While Hawkins became known with swing music during the big band era, he had a role in the development of bebop in the 1940s.
Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be standards changes over time. Songs included in major fake book publications and jazz reference works offer a rough guide to which songs are considered standards.
Lawrence Brown was an American jazz trombonist from California best remembered for his work with the Duke Ellington orchestra. He was a session musician throughout his career, and also recorded albums under his own name.
Ray Willis Nance was an American jazz trumpeter, violinist and singer. He is best remembered for his long association with Duke Ellington and his orchestra.
Harry Howell Carney was a jazz saxophonist and clarinettist who spent over four decades as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He played a variety of instruments, but primarily used the baritone saxophone, being a critical influence on the instrument in jazz.
Paul Gonsalves was an American jazz tenor saxophonist best known for his association with Duke Ellington. At the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, Gonsalves played a 27-chorus solo in the middle of Ellington's "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue," a performance credited with revitalizing Ellington's waning career in the 1950s.
Irving Harold Mills was an music publisher, musician, lyricist, and jazz promoter. He often used the pseudonyms Goody Goodwin and Joe Primrose.
Ellington at Newport is a 1956 live jazz album by Duke Ellington and his band of their 1956 concert at the Newport Jazz Festival, a concert which revitalized Ellington's flagging career. Jazz promoter George Wein describes the 1956 concert as "the greatest performance of [Ellington's] career... It stood for everything that jazz had been and could be." It is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, which ranks it "one of the most famous... in jazz history". The original release was partly recreated in the studio after the Ellington Orchestra's festival appearance.
Wild Bill Davis was the stage name of American jazz pianist, organist, and arranger William Strethen Davis. He is best known for his pioneering jazz electric organ recordings and for his tenure with the Tympany Five, the backing group for Louis Jordan. Prior to the emergence of Jimmy Smith in 1956, Davis was the pacesetter among organists.
Russell Keith Procope was an American clarinetist and alto saxophonist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra.
William Alonzo "Cat" Anderson was an American jazz trumpeter known for his long period as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra and for his wide range, especially his ability to play in the altissimo register.
Jimmy Hamilton was an American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist, who was a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
"Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" is a jazz composition written in 1937 by Duke Ellington and recorded for the first time on May 15, 1937 by the Duke Ellington Orchestra with Wallace Jones, Cootie Williams (trumpet), Rex Stewart (cornet), Barney Bigard (clarinet), Johnny Hodges, Otto Hardwick, Laurence Brown, Joe Nanton (trombone), Harry Carney, Sonny Greer (drums), Wellmann Braud (bass), Freddie Guy (guitar), and Duke Ellington (piano). No tenor saxophone was present in this recording section, nor in "Crescendo in Blue," which was recorded the same day. In its early form, the two individual pieces, "Diminuendo in Blue" and "Crescendo in Blue," were recorded on opposite sides of a 78 rpm record. The 1956 performance at the Newport Jazz Festival revitalized Ellington's career, making newspaper headlines when seated audience members chaotically began rising to dance and stand on their chairs during Paul Gonsalves's tenor saxophone solo.
Taft Jordan was an American jazz trumpeter.
"Chlo-e " (1927) is a show tune with music by Charles N. Daniels, writing under the pseudonym of "Neil Morét," and lyrics by Gus Kahn. It is now regarded as a jazz standard.
Lloyd Nelson Trotman, born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, was an American jazz bassist, who backed numerous jazz, dixieland, R&B, and rock and roll artists in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. He resided in Huntington, Long Island, New York between 1962 and 2007, and prior to that in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York from 1945 to 1962. He worked primarily out of New York City. He provided the bass line on Ben E. King's "Stand by Me".
The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz is a six-LP box set released in 1973 by the Smithsonian Institution. Compiled by jazz critic, scholar, and historian Martin Williams, the album included tracks from over a dozen record labels spanning several decades and genres of American jazz, from ragtime and big band to post-bop and free jazz.