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duke ellington - the conny plank session (coloured vinyl) - gronland - vinyl

New Copy

Genre: Jazz

1. Alerado (take 1)
2. Alerado (take 2)
3. Alerado (take 3)
4. Afrique (take 1)
5. Afrique (take 2)
6. Afrique (take 3 - vocal version)

An American jazz legend in the twilight of his life encounters a young sound engineer and producer who is preparing to give pop a new sound. The essence of that special moment is documented with Duke Ellington & His Orchestra's The Conny Plank Session

Myths abound about Ellington and Plank working together at Rhenus Studio in Cologne sometime in 1970. However, with each tale, the crux of the story is the same - Ellington listened to the takes and praised Plank's work. Plank admired Ellington and received recognition from the right person at the right time. Influence and recognition - it was a stroke of luck, and for Plank, a moment of realization and revelation.

As described by Henrik von Holtum, who wrote the album's liner notes: Duke Ellington's musical works are seemingly well documented, the likelihood of finding a good, unreleased Duke Ellington recording is slight at best. When Grönland Records called and told me they had found exactly that in Conny Plank's estate and asked me if I wanted to give it a listen, I felt pretty honored, and excited. The music of Duke Ellington is - in my worldview - to jazz what Bach's oeuvre is to classical music: THE great benchmark, or - to raise it up onto an even higher pedestal - the Old Testament, the alpha and omega. With both Bach and Ellington, you can sit down at a piano simply to go through it building chords and something great always happens. This music is so rich, and it is virtually indestructible.