Duke Ellington and John Coltrane (1980 Japanese Impulse! Stereo LP)

Vinyl: EX
Sleeve: VG+
Obi: None

Our grading system explained here.
Photo is of the actual item.

Duke Ellington and John Coltrane | Vinyl LP - 1980 Japanese Impulse! Stereo Reissue (VIM-4608, Victor Musical Industries, Inc.)

Nine days before this session, Ellington had recorded Money Jungle with Mingus and Roach. His appetite for intergenerational meetings at this point in 1962 was apparently genuine. Coltrane was in the middle of his Impulse! years, early enough that the most adventurous playing was still ahead of him, but already far enough from hard bop that the pairing carried some implicit tension.

The solution was practical and elegant. Both leaders brought their rhythm sections and the pairings alternated from track to track. On "In a Sentimental Mood" - Ellington's 1935 ballad, the most famous piece on the record - Aaron Bell plays bass and Elvin Jones plays drums. On "Take the Coltrane," a blues Ellington wrote for the date and named for his guest, the rhythm section switches to Garrison and Jones. "Big Nick," Coltrane's own composition, is taken on soprano saxophone, his only use of that instrument across the session.

"My Little Brown Book" is Strayhorn's, and it gave Coltrane one of his finest ballad performances of the period. "Angelica" is an Ellington calypso that appeared a few months later under the title "Purple Gazelle" on Afro-Bossa. "The Feeling of Jazz" is a lazy blues that closes the album without hurry, Bell and Woodyard back in the chair.

Ellington said afterward: "No hassle, no sweat. I loved every minute of it." Coltrane described it as "a wonderful experience."

This is the 1980 Japanese Impulse! stereo reissue (VIM-4608), manufactured by Victor Musical Industries, Inc.