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Product description ARMSTRONG LOUIS / ELLINGTON DU Amazon.com For starters, The Great Summit produced not only itself, both in a long-valued one-CD set and now this 2-CD Complete Sessions, but also a later summit, and Duke Ellington's tandem showdown, First Time. On its own, though, The Great Summit needs no later chapters to justify its celebrated standing in jazz annals. This was and is terrifically important music, Ellington in grand form between recording the Paris Blues soundtrack and cutting ace sessions like Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins and Duke Ellington & John Coltrane in late 1962. For his part, Armstrong was on leave, as well, resting up between ceaseless tours as a bona fide jazz superstar and veteran. So Ellington and Armstrong join hands, backed by the latter's band (Trummy Young on trombone, Barney Bigard on clarinet, Mort Herbert on bass, and Danny Barcelona on drums), tackling 17 of Duke's tunes. Armstrong's sweet, rolling vocal growl gives the tunes endless hugs, just as his band both cuts plump solos and then backs way off so Ellington can throw down alternately swinging and unapologetically modernist solos himself. What distinguishes this two-CD set from the originally issued, one-CD Complete Session is the second disc, The Making of the Great Summit. What's that worth? Well, it's a fan's dream, with studio chatter, with myriad false starts and several alternate complete takes ("In a Mellow Tone," "Duke's Place," and "Drop Me Off in Harlem"). Pure gold if you love Duke and Louis separately--unalloyed platinum if you love them (or just the thought of them) together. --Andrew Bartlett Review By the time Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong entered the recording studio together for two 1961 Roulette sessions, they were national icons and international ambassadors of jazz. On Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington, Ellington took the place of pianist Billy Kyle in Louis Armstrong's All-Stars for a program of his own compositions. It's no wonder that Armstrong, a major influence on Ellington from the start, was at home with the material. On The Beautiful American, clarinetist Barney Bigard, a veteran of Ellington's band, chases Armstrong into his upper register, and the trumpeter delivers three ringing solo choruses. --- JAZZIZ Magazine Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc. Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc. -- From Jazziz