Duke Ellington: Live at Tivoli Gardens

The digital age has brought us many blessings--just imagine what life would be like without ATMs, not to mention cell phones (think of all those crucial “can you hear me now?” calls you missed in the pay phone era). To my mind, though, it's the presence on DVD of programs like this that's the real miracle. Indeed, this is the second superb Duke Ellington performance recorded in Denmark to be released in 2003 alone. It's also an appropriate follow-up to the earlier Intimate Duke Ellington (VL-7/03). Whereas the "intimate" showcase captures Ellington as a solo pianist and in small group settings, Live at Tivoli Gardens features the Ellington Orchestra in all its splendor in two approximately 70-minute sets recorded a few days apart in 1971, when the Duke was a still-spry 72. But although the repertoire (“Take the ‘A' Train,” “Satin Doll,” and a lengthy medley of other familiar Ellington compositions, along with some less familiar fare) is similar, the performances are hardly identical--no surprise there, considering the presence of gifted improvisers like trumpeter Cootie Williams and saxophonists Paul Gonsalves, Harry Carney, and the great Ben Webster (returning to the fold some 30 years after his first Ellington stint). The sound quality (in Dolby Digital mono) is nowhere near as vivid as what you'd find on contemporary releases--the stage mikes weren't especially well placed, and the sound reproduction here is on the thin side--but when it comes to music of this caliber, we're lucky that it exists at all. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: C, P. (S. Graham)