Duke Ellington & His Men by Cabu

“Music is my mistress” , undoubtedly the most fertile of American composers liked to say, Duke Ellington . And there is no shortage of vivid testimonies of this unalterable bond of more than fifty years, whether in the form of composed music (from simple themes to ambitious suites) or music performed by the maestro and his superb phalanx in the studio. or on stage. Ellington , who had an infallible flair - or rather an ear - for finding the musician who would best serve his music, also had this unique gift of encouraging his development, even sparking his talent.

Over the years, the ducal aggregation will have served incubator and of developer to an imposing number of soloists, for whom the leader's attachment was such that he went so far as to concoct them “mini-concertos” to highlight them. It's an anthology of these little ones little-known masterpieces , mostly captured out of official studios during the thirties, forties and fifties, which we have endeavored to present.