Duke Ellington

"The Duke Ellington Reader" by Mark Tucker is a great place to start as far as biographical material goes.

Musically much of his best material is not particularly well recorded, but there are exceptions, "This One's For Blanton" and "Jazz Party In Stereo" quickly come to mind. My personal favorite album is "Duke - 1940 Live From the Crystal Ballroom Fargo, ND". It's a recording of a typical night on the road with Duke near his peak. They were an excellent dance band. "Ellington At Newport" is also a classic live recording.

Another way to appreciate Ellington's (and Billy Strayhorn) genius is to listen to how other artist interpret their songs. A large number of jazz artist have done Ellington tribute albums. Some of the better ones are by Thelonious Monk, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Kenny Burrell.

One last point, don't overlook Duke as a piano player. He's quite accomplished. Check out "Money Jungle" w/ Charles Mingus and Max Roach or "Great Times" w/ Billy Strayhorn.

I liked his Duke Ellington's greatest hits from Sony Music Entertainment 1997. It has a very good sound quality. This disc is part of a series of 6 different bands from that era. Sound quality has been digitally remastered and they a decent job of it. I found it in my local library.

Blue--I live on the Hill. If you ever want to go out in your neck of the woods, or to Ellington's on Eighth in my hood where you can hear Duke's music, please let me know.

P.S.--I humbly recommend Duke/Louis Armstrong's The Complete Sessions (also on DAD), if you like Satchmo as much as I do.

Ditto on "Money Jungle" on blue note label.
I have the Duke Ellington/Louis Armstrong collaboration (now I forget the title) released as 2LP set long out of print on Mobile Fidelity Sound labs label. I think Classic Records has released the set as two separate LPs. Another one I like is Duke Ellington with John Coltrane (sorry forgot the title on that one two) on Impulse label.
Yeah really great master player, kind of zen like in his quest for economy of notes and a search for perfect melodic relationships. When I was young I thought this was old foggey music but now I think he was a genius.