78rpm pressing: Jungle Nights In Harlem - Duke Ellington and his Cotton Club Orchestra, 1930

Another "well loved" 78 here. ;)

Very hot stuff by Duke at the dawn of the Great Depression - and further proof that swing really did exist before 1935. LOL!

Instead of Victor, this 78 is actually on the Montgomery Wards label - which worked somewhat like the Bluebird label did, except these were, obviously, sold exclusively in Montgomery Wards stores and leased Victor/RCA Victor recordings. Not all that rare, really - but pretty unique.

This is Montgomery Wards M-4989-A

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Duke
• Ellington
• hot
• big
• band
• prohibition
• era
• jazz

[JCJasion]

Comment 2 of 2

Regarding the sound source. WOW! That is a rare collectors item. I didn't know Victor leased their materials out to Montgomery Ward. I sit in the catbird seat on the sound source for this. How'd you like to have the British produced Hermes/Nimbus CD reissue from the late 1980's where the sound engineers got ahold of the metal stamper, pressed a vinylite copy and then transferred the recording directly to CD WITH NO FURTHER PROCESSING. The sound is UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

[SwingMan1937]

@JCJasion Oh, I'd like very much to have that CD - I've heard nothing but great things from you & others about their "experiment". But, I'm hopelessly broke and couldn't afford to get lost if it took a quarter to go 'round the world.

Yeah, this little gem was just one in an ebay "grab bag" album of Duke 78's that were tossed in there - 10 records & I snagged the whole album for something like $16 + change. They didn't specify labels, but, after seeing this cut listed, I bid anyways. ;)

[musiclover0044]

ooh man i just love jazz! :) this is an amazing jazz piece by duke ellington :) <3

[JCJasion]

You can hear in this one recording from 1930, in embryonic form, so much of what Duke was later to make as musical statements. I couldn't even begin to enumerate the references.

[althazarr]

Very cool Mark! I have quite a few Montgomery Ward 78's, but most of them are string bands, old country & western, and stuff like the Carter Family. I didn't know that Ellington released any on this label.That's just awesome! :-)

[Shabannie]

This is one of my favorites!

[BcuzJazz]

AWESOME - After I had fallen "in love" w/ Duke's 1940-41 period, this is the track (on a cheap DejaVu compilation CD) that introduced me to Duke's "JUNGLE MUSIC" period - always been a fave, but been so long since I heard it (college?), I'd forgotten all about it - thx, got my weekend off to a great start! Now off to see my cousin 2 hours west, who's playing in a new band (not jazz, but hey, still pretty good :-)

[JCJasion]

Comment 1 of 2

The brass writing was something Duke always prided himself over the years. I have a recording of this and the way the brass soundst has always taken my breath away insofar as it is SO ADVANCED, not only for 1930, but only for Duke's own writing. You're gonna turn green on this next thing, but I have the Hermes/Nimbus

[pereapdoweb]

La época esplendorosa del jazz,

La mejor música en encuentros sociales, muy buena para espectaculos.