Duke Ellington & Ray Brown - This One's For Blanton

When he died in 1942, Duke Ellington’s 21-year-old bassist, Jimmy Blanton, had liberated the string bass from its traditional role as an accompanist. Two of Blanton’s disciples, Ray Brown and Oscar Pettiford, carried forward his work of developing the bass into a solo instrument. Their contributions had a great deal to do with bebop’s becoming a mature music. More than 30 years after Blanton’s death, Brown went into a studio with Ellington to pay homage to his idol. Their duets echo the famous ones of Ellington and Blanton and demonstrate Brown’s creativity and virtuosity on the Blanton model.

"...The duet with Ray Brown is the more musically compelling, and the microphones pick up Brown's bass-plucking in all its dynamic subtlety." - Fred Kaplan, The Absolute Sound, December 2005 (included in Kaplan's "Best-Sounding Jazz LPs")

"Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman's superb mastering continues in this second series of releases from Acoustech...These records are treasures and offer some of the greatest sound you'll ever hear coming from your system...no matter how large or small. Highest recommendation."
Recording = 9/10 Music = 10/10
- Richard Foster, Hi-Fi+, Issue 31, page 139
For a closer look at this outstanding bi-monthy audio magazine, please visit http://www.hifiplus.com

Originally released in 1972.

Duke Ellington, piano
Ray Brown, bass