In 2006 I reviewed
Ellington's Money Jungle, along with a couple other albums. He knew talent challenged them and brought out the best with all with whom he played.
"Strictly in the left channel and slightly behind the piano is drummer Max Roach and far to the right channel plays Charlie Mingus. If you listen around the occasional distortion, you’ll find cuts on this album that lay bare the dexterous delicacy and lightness of Ellington’s ivory weavings, and cuts where he is charismatically potent and fierce. Consider the aptly titled "Money Jungle," an Ellington original. While it took me several tries to get my head around this music, even a sonata-formed jazz square such as myself came to recognize Ellington’s virtuosity at work. Here is Wall Street life and death -- the money jungle, the music raw and apprehensive -- yet beneath the discord there is pulse and drive. It’s the music of an avant-garde bopper. Ellington lets Roach and Mingus go out, reels them back in, and then lets them go again. When Mingus stops fighting Duke, the two connect on another plane, though at the end they scrap over who will get the last word, and the winner is Roach!
A gentle rain, a mystical musing of sophisticated harmonies, the second cut is the antipode to "Money Jungle’s" urban angst. "Le Fleurs Africaines" ("African Flowers") is another Ellington original, and it may be the sleeper on this album. Duke’s timing is so refined and his delicate touch on the keys itself takes on a lyrical quality. Here, Mingus’s bass floats with agile punctuations, while Roach’s drumming is restrained, almost contemplative.
These pieces are representative of the diverse talent on this album. Thesis, antithesis, and synthesis -- each musician takes on each role, with the result a tension of energy held (sometimes barely) in balance by Ellington. At points, the trio is at odds with one another and there are moments when they riff together, as if a single man were playing. While his creativity and musicianship cross decades, Ellington’s young ideas challenge the pugnacious Mingus and the cerebral Roach while allowing each his distinctive voice."
I covered "Ellington's Indigos" in my Lamm LP2.1 review for Positive Feedback. In the 'Sound' section.
Lamm Industries LP2.1 Deluxe Phono Preamplifier
positive-feedback.com
