Ellington Jazz Party

Jazz Party is a sublime example of big band jazz at it's most innovative. Duke Ellington's producer Irving Townsend described it as "The Most exciting album of jazz I've ever heard. " and went on to set the scene for this most historic recording session, "This album began as a single recording session during which we intended to record three or four of Duke's recent compositions for release sometime in the future. It began early one afternoon in February 1959 when the band arrived back in New York from Florida, and even before we began, our session was turning into a welcome home party for Duke. Dozens of fans appeared in the studio, among them Dizzy Gillespie (with trumpet), Jimmy Rushing and Jimmy Jones who just happened to be passing by. As the crowd gathered, Duke was on the phone calling his group of nine percussionists, and the studio lobby was filling up with kettle drums and xylophones. Chairs were set up for our unexpected audience, and Duke, with the innocent expression of a small boy who had just dropped a match into a gas tank, said, "Let's see what happens... "