The Suites, New York 1968 & 1970

The Suites, New York 1968 & 1970 is volume five of The Private Collection, a series of compilation albums by Duke Ellington from his archive of unreleased music. The album includes "The Degas Suite", an unreleased soundtrack for an unfinished film consisting of paintings of horse races.

Also included is "The River", which was composed to accompany a ballet by Alvin Ailey that premiered on June 25, 1970, at New York State Theater in Lincoln Center.

Reception

The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow stated: "Ellington is mostly the lead voice but his star sidemen are heard from on these formerly very rare and somewhat unusual performances. Clearly his genius was strong enough to fill three lifetimes full of new music and this CD contains some melodies that might have been more significant if he had lived long enough to find a place for them."

Track listing

Recorded at National Recording Studio, New York on November 6, 1968 (tracks 1.1-1.11), November 23, 1968 (track 1.1), December 3, 1968 (track 1.7), at Universal Studios, Chicago on May 25, 1970 (tracks 2.1-2.5 & 2.12), at National Recording Studio, New York on June 3, 1970 (tracks 2.7-2.10), June 8, 1970 (track 2.6) and June 15, 1970 (track 2.11).

Personnel

Duke Ellington – piano

Cat Anderson – trumpet

Dave Burns – trumpet

Willie Cook – trumpet

Mercer Ellington – trumpet

Money Johnson – trumpet

Frank Stone – trumpet

Cootie Williams – trumpet

Lawrence Brown – trombone

Buster Cooper – trombone

Cliff Heathers – trombone

Chuck Connors – bass trombone

Johnny Hodges – alto saxophone

Russell Procope – alto saxophone, clarinet

Norris Turney – alto saxophone, flute

Harold Ashby – tenor saxophone

Paul Gonsalves – tenor saxophone

Harry Carney – baritone saxophone

Jeff Castleman – double bass

Joe Benjamin – drums

Rufus "Speedy" Jones – drums

Elayne Jones – tympani

Walter Rosenberg – glockenspiel

Dave Fitz – xylophone, marimba

References

Saja Records albums

Duke Ellington albums

1987 albums