Listen, DANCE!

Duke Ellington - Money Jungle

Ok, this will be a short one. This album is awesome. Full stop. These three giants of the jazz canon, composers and performers, come together for one of the coolest albums ever recorded. “Coolness factor”, as my dad would put it, is off the charts! This album has everything: blues, ballads, bass lines, listening, and DANCING!

Listen to that ride cymbal! Listen to that left hand! Listen to those strings!

They are all such melodic players, and I hear such a depth of character from each of them individually while also playing as a trio. There are accounts of this album being a turbulent recording session, which adds to the looseness of the music and undeniable presence of the “moment” in the recording. Whether or not they enjoyed their time together or their recording results I feel like this is some compelling music, for it’s raw quality and representation of the language of music in action.

Saved: September’20

Listened: February’22

Released: 1963

As stated above, this album has a dance to it. There is such a deep feel, because, what do you know, they are innovators in how to play this music! I love how free Mingus plays on this. He is really speaking as a lead voice in many situations. The musicians had no rehearsal, and you can actually hear them listening to each other to connect. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable as if they haven’t agreed yet, but this is actually a charming quality to my ears.

Check out this cute tune:

Max is playing pretty darn straight, Mingus is swinging, and Duke is somewhere in between. They’re also just kind of not together lol. But I don’t care!

Do yourself a favor and dive into this moment captured in time. Money Jungle is not perfect by any means, but none of us are. That’s what makes music and art a spiritual act. It’s a gift, and I love getting lost in the humanity of it all.

Happy Listening!