COMPOSERS: Duke Ellington
LABELS: Columbia Legacy
PERFORMER: Duke Ellington
CATALOGUE NO: 512920 2
Piano in the Foreground dates from 1961 and is an inspired selection of piano trio performances made with Sam Woodward on drums and Aaron Bell or Jimmy Woode on bass, all mainstays of the Ellington band of the period. The album successfully emphasises Ellington’s pianism, with fewer than half the original tracks bearing his sole name as composer and many others, such as ‘Body and Soul’ and ‘All the Things You Are’ being other people’s standards altogether.