Duke Ellington, Fargo, North Dakota, 7 November 1940 (Complete) Disc One

IN MY MIND, the link to Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra (1970) is Charles Mingus’ 1964 LP Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus. But it starts with this recording, distributed as a bootleg until an “official” release in 1978. The Duke Ellington Orchestra live in concert at the Crystal Ballroom, Fargo, North Dakota, 7 November 1940. Specifically their versions of “Mood Indigo”, almost midway through this set, and the 30 second rendition of “God Bless America”, appearing at the end of disc 2, which I’ll post next week. Charlie owned at least two versions of the “commercial” release: the U.K. “Volume 1” vinyl, and the 1995 Japanese 2X CD, which I post here. Solid, Jackson.

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Duke Ellington at Fargo, Live 1940 (complete)

Crystal Ballroom, Fargo, North Dakota

7 November 1940

Recorded by Jack Towers and Dick Burns

Wallace Jones & Rex Stewart, trumpets

Ray Nance, trumpet, violin, vocal

Tricky Sam Nanton, Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown, trombones

Barney Bigard, clarinet, tenor sax

Johnny Hodges, alto sax

Otto Hardwick, alto sax, clarinet

Ben Webster, tenor sax

Harry Carney, baritone sax, clarinet

Duke Ellington, piano

Fred Guy, guitar, whistle

Jimmy Blanton, bass

Sonny Greer, drums

Ivie Anderson & Herb Jeffries, vocal

Track listing:

1. It’s Glory (partial) (E. Ellington)

2. The Mooche (E. Ellington, I. Mills)

3. The Sheik Of Araby (H. Smith, T. Snyder)

4. Sepia Panorama (E. Ellington)

5. Ko-Ko (E. Ellington)

6. There Shall Be No Night (G. Shelley, A. Silver)

7. Pussy Willow (E. Ellington)

8. Chatterbox (E. Ellington)

9. Mood Indigo (B. Bigard, E. Ellington, I Mills)

10. Harlem Airshaft (E. Ellington)

11. Ferryboat Serenade (M. Panzeri, E. Lazzaro, H. Arlen)

12. Warm Valley (and chaser) (E. Ellington)

13. Stompy Jones (E. Ellington)

14. Chole (including interruption) (C. Daniels, G. Kahn)

15. Bojangles (E. Ellington)

16. On The Air (E. Ellington)

17. Rumpus In Richmond (E. Ellington)

18. (chaser)

19. The Sidewalks Of New York (including interruption) (public domain)

20. The Flaming Sword (E. Ellington)

21. Never No Lament (E. Ellington)

22. Caravan (including interruption) (E. Ellington, I. Mills, J. Tizol)

23. Clarinet Lament (B. Bigard, E. Ellington)

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